Steering You
by WoNdY Alice
Summary: Terra is dead. Beast boy is in mourning. Starfire is heartbroken, and Cyborg is debating leaving the team. Worse comes to worse when an unbreakable bond forms between Robin and Raven, revealing not only their deepest secrets but also the love for each other they worked so hard to hide. RobRae. One-sided RobStar. Sequel to Finding You. Third installment in the "With You" series.
1. Deception Part 1

Alice: New story!

Emily: This is a sequel to Finding You and the third installment in the "With You" series.

Alice: For those of you that are new to this series, it's basically each episode but with a RobRae twist instead of RobStar (along with multiple others).

Emily: Robin's backstory is a mixture of Tim's and his own, and I made a lot of references to the show Young Justice, but don't worry! You don't have to watch that show to get it (although it might be confusing if you don't read my first two stories).

Alice: Anyways, enjoy the new story! As you can see from the summary, this is the one where Robin and Raven finally discover they have feelings towards each other!

* * *

Title: Steering You

Summary: Terra is dead. Beast boy is in mourning. Starfire is heartbroken, and Cyborg is debating leaving the team. Worse comes to worse when an unbreakable bond forms between Robin and Raven, revealing not only their deepest secrets but also the love for each other they worked so hard to hide.

Pairings: Robin x Raven. Past Beast boy x Terra. Slight Cyborg x Jinx. One-sided Robin x Starfire.

* * *

 **Deception**

 _Part 1_

 _Victor grabbed his bag and hoisted it over his shoulder. He glanced back at his father, who was sitting on the table reading over some files. Sighing, Victor made his way towards the backdoor before pausing. "Hey dad," he called out. "I'm going to football practice."_

 _He received no response as usual. Shaking his head in disappointment, Victor was about to walk out the door when his father abruptly asked, "Victor, what is the function of lysosomes in a cell?"_

 _"Dad," Victor groaned. "Dad I have to—"_

 _"Answer the question."_

 _Sighing in defeat, Victor answered, "They're one of the key organelles that are involved with getting rid of waste in a cell. Can I go now?"_

 _Smiling happily, his father nodded, and Victor immediately walked outside of the house. Every day his father quizzed him on random facts about biology and computer science. Some questions, like the one today, were easy and introductory level. Others were complex and took Victor weeks to properly answer due to the amount of research he had to do for it. Shaking his head, Victor decided to just forget about his father for not and focus on football practice. That would take his mind off of his home life._

Cyborg gasped, flying into a sit up position on his bed. The human parts of his body were covered in sweat and he was trembling. Shakily, he raised his mechanical hand to level with his face. Shutting his eyes tightly, he dropped his hand onto the bed and attempted to level out his breathing. Letting out a strangled noise, he fell back onto his bed.

* * *

Beast boy walked through the dark tunnels underground. After visiting so often, he memorized the way down and had no need for a map or even a flashlight. His hands softly gripped the flowers in his hand and his heart pounded in his chest. Maybe today was the day… no, Beast boy shook his head. He knew he couldn't get his hopes up again.

Finally he made it to his destination: Terra's grave sight. Placing the flowers at the feet of her statue, Beast boy took a deep breath before sitting on the ground beneath him. Staring up at her statue, he smiled softly. "Hi Terra."

No response, as expected.

Gulping, Beast boy continued, "It's been three months since you saved the city. Time flies, right?" He added a humorless chuckle at his own joke. "It's funny. We thought the crime rates would go down once Slade was gone, but they've risen. We're working on catching a bunch of criminals right now who are a part of HIVE, and it's taking up a lot of our time. That's probably why you're still… like… this…"

Blinking away the tears, Beast boy spoke, "Starfire's doing good. She's still upset about you, which is understandable. I'm still upset. Robin's gotten his temper tantrums under control. At least, he does for now. I never really know what's going on in that guy's head. Raven is avoiding the team again. I think she's trying deal with her emotions on your death still. Cyborg's been on and off. Some days he'll be great and other day's he'll be angry."

He sighed and stared at the beautiful stone face. "I'm sorry Terra, but you're going to have to stay like this a little longer."

He tried to think of something else to say but his train of thought was interrupted when his communicator started buzzing. Frowning, he glanced at the device then at Terra. "Sorry," he whispered. "I have to go. I'll come back soon though. I love you."

With those parting words, Beast boy ran from the grave site and back home.

* * *

"Again?" Cyborg groaned when they saw who was robbing the store. HIVE members Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo were attempting to smuggle gold and diamonds out of the store. This was the third time that week HIVE members were stealing, and Cyborg was done with fighting them. Dashing towards Mammoth, he kicked him in the gut without a warning.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted as though the fighting hadn't started yet. The HIVE members smirked and began to fight them with all they had. Compared to the first time they've fought this HIVE team, the three improved tremendously. They were extremely organized and had clear strategies they thought of before the fight. It frustrated the team to no end because it made them uncatchable.

Cyborg fought with all his willpower and attempted to avoid Gizmo, who had an annoying habit of using magnets on him. Raven focused on Jinx, who had similar powers as her. Jinx smirked and focused her powers to the ground, causing the ground to crumble beneath her. While it didn't crack, it made Raven lose her balance. Before she could hit the floor though, arms secured around her and hoisted her up.

Frowning, she glared at Robin, who was the one who caught her. "I had that handled," she hissed.

"I was just trying to help," he defended, quickly jumping up and dashing towards Jinx, who tried to avoid his attacks.

"I don't need your help," she spat, using her powers to force Jinx back.

"Yeah and apparently you don't need my friendship either!" Robin snapped back at her and quickly flipped away from Jinx, who nearly hit him with her powers. Raven clenched her teeth and tried not to feel angered at the words. Ever since their "prom date," Raven had been carefully avoiding the team leader. She realized that even though she loved him she could only bring about his destruction. It was what she was born to do, and she couldn't handle it. It was better to let him go than to hang on.

Distracted by the comment, Raven nearly didn't notice the fight coming her way. Luckily Beast boy did and turned into a bird, flying straight at Mammoth and pecking at his eyes. Raven swiftly turned around and used her powers to slam into Mammoth, forcing him to fall back. "Retreat!" Jinx screamed, and the three villains quickly exited the store. Just as the team was about to follow, Robin grabbed onto Cyborg's arm.

"Stop," he stated, and the team frowned at him. He smirked and held up his communicator. On the screen was a red dot moving fast. "We got them."

* * *

"A tracking device?" Beast boy exclaimed, staring in awe at the computer before him. The HIVE main headquarters was blinking on the screen giving away the secret hideout that the Titans had been searching for. Robin smirked and nodded his head. "Was that your plan all along?"

Instead of answering, Robin just smirked confidently at him.

"Nice work Robin!" Starfire smiled cheerfully.

Robin nodded and began planning, "It wouldn't work if we just attacked the headquarters. For all we know, it could be a trap. We need to know what they're planning which is why we need someone on the inside."

"Stealth!" Beast boy grinned happily. "I'm your man! Or rather, you're fly on the wall!"

Instead of his plan being met with agreement, Beast boy's face fell when he saw Robin's hesitation. "We need someone to interact with the students," Robin replied apologetically. "Sorry Beast boy."

"Then who will it be?" Starfire questioned. "You?"

"No offense," Raven added snidely, "but the last time you went undercover, it didn't go so well. At all."

Robin scowled at her, and the team froze. "I said I was sorry for that," he snapped.

"Good to know," she glared back. Tension rose in the room as the two glared heavily at each other. Starfire gulped and slowly backed up towards Cyborg, who stared at the entire scene blankly. She was about to comment on it, but she ended up tripping on the remote on the floor. Gasping, she tried to regain her balance but it was too late. She rammed into Cyborg, who fell flat on the floor. The strange part was, he made no facial expression.

"Cyborg?" Starfire questioned, the attention of the room directed at their fallen comrade.

"Actually," Cyborg's voice came from the side of the room. The team turned to see Cyborg, grinning over the one who had fallen to the floor. "I'm Cyborg. That's just my robotic replacement."

"Replacement?" Beast boy's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, you're going in? No offense, but you'd stick out more than me!"

"Nope." Grinning, Cyborg banged his fists together and his whole body transformed to look human. Raven, Beast boy, and Starfire all looked at him in awe, and Robin grinned proudly at his teammate. "If I go in like this, no one will recognize me."

"A hologram!" Starfire clapped her hands together.

"You knew about Robin's plan?" Raven raised an eyebrow.

"Yep," Cyborg smirked. "For once, I was in on it!"

"Congratulation's!" Starfire dashed to him. "You almost look normal!"

Beast boy and Robin flinched at the comment, and Raven pressed her lips together. Cyborg appeared very thrown off by the comment and insecurely looked down at his hands. "Um… thanks?"

Her face fell. "I'm sorry… I did not mean—"

"It's fine Star," Cyborg reassured her. "I know what you meant. If anything, it's a big compliment on the technology I built!"

"I see," she reluctantly smiled back but Cyborg could tell she still regretted what she said.

He forced a smile. "Who's ready to take down HIVE?"

* * *

 _Victor smiled at the crowd. It was the championship game against their school's archrivals. While he may have been nervous, he was still determined to win. As he was scanning the crowd, his eyes fell on a peculiar sight: Silas Stone. His father had decided to come to one of his games. Clenching his fists, Victor smiled happily._

 _"Victor?" His girlfriend rushed to him. Marcy Reynolds, one of the cheerleaders, was the most beautiful girl in school. Every day Victor felt blessed that she chose to date him. He smiled and kissed her quickly. "You gonna win this?"_

 _"You know it!" He beamed and subtly pointed to his father. Marcy gasped and smiled brightly._

 _"He came! When's the last time he came to a game?"_

 _"Never!" Victor nearly jumped with excitement. "Last week my mom was telling me to push my limits to win. I'm going to do that. I'm going to win!"_

 _"I know you will baby!" Marcy kissed him again. "Go kick their asses!"_

 _They ended up winning that game, and when Victor went to see his father in the crowd, Silas only scoffed at him before walking away._

* * *

Cyborg stared at his body in the mirror. His eyes stuck to the muscular arms and the fake flesh that accompanied them. Glancing down at his hands, he frowned as he formed a fist. It looked so real, yet he couldn't feel his own skin. If he reached out to the mirror, he wouldn't be able to feel whether it was cold or smooth. Unable to help it, he raised his arm and flexed his muscle, smiling proudly at what he saw.

"You look good."

Jumping up, Cyborg whipped around to see Robin standing there with a smirk on his face. "Y-yeah," he flushed. "Looks really convincing."

Robin nodded, and if he wasn't wearing the mask, Cyborg would have seen his eyes searching his expression. "You okay?"

Cyborg's body tensed. "Fine."

"Yeah," Robin smiled softly. "Like I was three months ago?"

Cyborg flinched, and Robin strode into the room, glancing around at the technology that filled it. "Robin?"

"This will be hard for you," he stated without looking at him in the eye. "Just know you can always talk about it with me if it gets to be too much. I'm here for you."

Cyborg shook his head in confusion. Or perhaps denial. "What are you talking about? I'm fine."

"Do you miss it?" Robin changed the subject. "Having this body?"

A tense silence fell between the two. "I'm fine." He curtly answered.

Robin nodded but clearly didn't believe him. "It's time, Cy. Just came to let you know that."

 _Not the only reason_ , Cyborg thought bitterly as Robin exited the room. He could tell Robin was worried about him, but he didn't need to be. He could handle pretending to have this body again, and it would affect him negatively at all. He was a fighter. He's proved that time and time again.

* * *

Raven meditated peacefully in her room. Already having said her goodbyes to Cyborg, she attempted to quell the feeling of dread in her stomach. While she doubted Cyborg would mess up the plan, she still didn't know how well Cyborg would take to being in his old body again. Not only that, but she nearly outright fought with Robin today… She sighed and tried to focus.

When she heard a knock on her door, she nearly outright groaned. Standing up, she walked to her door and allowed it to open. She narrowed her eyes at the sight of Robin standing there with his arms crossed. Before the door could slam shut, Robin instantly put his foot in between and forced it open with his arms. "What?" Raven glared at him.

"You've been avoiding me," Robin stated. "I thought you'd stop by now, but you haven't."

"I haven't been avoiding you." She crossed her arms. "I've been busy."

"With what?"

"Figuring out ways to bring our dead friend back," Raven snapped, lying through her teeth. It was a low blow, and she knew it. It was also terrible to use Terra's sacrifice as an excuse to avoid Robin, but she was running out of options.

Robin flinched at the mention of her and sighed. "Is that so? Because you've been avoiding me since our prom dance, and last time I checked, Terra was alive at that point."

"Drop it Robin." Raven sighed, rubbing her temples. "Nothing good will come out of this."

"Yeah two people living in the same house and fighting crime together getting along. It just spells disaster." He sarcastically replied.

"Go. Away."

"You can't do this forever." He protested.

 _I don't need forever._

"I can try." Raven used her powers to push Robin back and shut the door. She could hear Robin hit the wall in the hall, but she didn't feel guilty about it. This was for his own good.

* * *

Alice: That's the first chapter!

Emily: This is a very Cyborg-oriented chapter, so I couldn't put as much RobRae as I wanted to in.

Alice: Don't worry. This story will be packed with RobRae. More than the first two stories actually.

Emily: Let us know what you think!

Alice: The next update will be next Wednesday the 22nd at the latest.


	2. Deception Part 2

Alice: New chapter!

Emily: Like I said, this episode focuses mainly on Cyborg, so I can't put much RobRae in it.

Alice: I know I promised there would be more RobRae in this fic than in my previous two, and that's true. You just have to wait for a certain episode for that to happen.

Emily: After that certain episode, it's really intense RobRae all around. I'm sure that you guys can guess the episode since the summary gives it away.

Alice: Until then, there's a lot of fighting and tension between them. Sorry about that.

Emily: In the meantime, here's the next chapter!

Alice: In Teen Titans, it was revealed that Cyborg became that way due to a car accident, so I'm going to go with that as his backstory instead of the comic backstory.

* * *

 **Deception**

 _Part 2_

Cyborg was immensely popular at his high school. How could he not be? He was only a sophomore at the time, but he proved himself to be one of the best football players on the team, and he was dating one of the hottest cheerleaders. Girls wanted to date him, and boys wanted to be him. In this school, however, he was not well liked. He could tell when people refused to offer him a seat at their lunch table and glared at him. He scowled and tried to remain positive. After all, why would he want to be well liked among a school of villains?

Sighing, he ended up sitting at one of the empty lunch tables. Before he could even look at his lunch, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and froze. Mammoth stood above him, glaring at him. Did he recognize Cyborg? Gulping, Cyborg was about to speak, but Mammoth beat him to it. "You're in my seat." He growled.

Thank goodness for dumb villains. Cyborg was about to defend himself when Gizmo appeared out of nowhere, snickering. "You look so lame! Do you even have any powers?"

Cyborg once again opened his mouth to speak and was silenced once again when a feminine voice spoke up. "You look familiar."

He could feel his body tense. Turning his head to his right, Cyborg's eyes landed on Jinx, whose arms were crossed as she looked at him with a calculating expression. Unlike her two partners, she appeared to be analyzing him. This was dangerous. She was dangerous. "My name is Stone," he offered, hoping his voice didn't trigger any memories for her.

She narrowed her eyes. "Stone." She slowly said his name.

"Get out of our seat!" Gizmo cried, ignoring the moment between his team leader and the stranger. Pressing a button, Gizmo burst out laughing when "Stone" went flying out of his chair with a scream. When Cyborg hit the floor, he could instantly hear the laughter of his peers. No! He needed to pass this mission. He needed to prove himself. Standing up, he smashed his fists together triggering the holograms to provide a new image around him. He must have looked like a stone man to the rest of them with blue eyes.

Raising his fist, he smashed the table to the point where it fell apart. Glaring at the HIVE members, he stated, "It looks like you need a new table."

The room fell silent, and Mammoth beamed at him. "Not bad!"

Gizmo smiled nervously. "You seem like a cool guy."

All around Cyborg could hear the impressed whispers of the students. No one stood up to the three of them. Cyborg smirked only to frown when he saw Jinx's expression. Instead of complimenting him, she just stared suspiciously at him. She definitely wasn't dumb, and Cyborg knew he would have to be careful around her. "Let's see how you do in training," she stated, walking past him without a second glance.

Gizmo sheepishly grinned. "She gets like that. Just ignore her."

"That's what we do." Mammoth nodded in agreement. Cyborg faked a smile and the three of them sat at a different lunch table together. _I'm in_ , Cyborg thought to himself as Gizmo and Mammoth laughed at a joke he told. _I'm in._

* * *

 _"Oh come on man!" Victor burst out laughing at his friend. "You can't drive! Let me!"_

 _"No no no no!" Marcy giggled. "You're too drunk!"_

 _After the big game, Victor decided to go to a party with his friends. He figured it would distract him from his father's attitude towards his win. The problem was he couldn't stop thinking about it, and it caused him to be a stick in the mud at the party. Marcy decided he needed to loosen up and grabbed him a few drinks. Normally Victor didn't drink (his father always complained that it killed important brain cells and would be extremely disappointed if he discovered his son was drinking), but tonight was an exception._

 _By the time the party was over, he could barely walk without stumbling. He came to the party with his friends, and they were arguing over who was sober enough to drive. "I could just call my parents," another one of his friends slurred._

 _"No!" Victor shook his head, laughing. "Your dad works with my dad, and he'd tell. My dad would kill me if he found out I was drinking!"_

 _"I know!" Marcy beamed. "Let's have Mike drive! He only had, like, two drinks, right? He's fiiine."_

 _Mike nodded eagerly, and the group agreed to that. They forgot Mike couldn't handle his drinks and would be just as drunk as the rest of them. Still, they all piled in the car with Victor in the passenger's seat. The car was stuffed with people, and it could barely fit all six of them. Still they managed to squeeze in, and Mike began driving._

 _"This is so much fun!" Marcy screamed loudly. "We're the champions guys!"_

 _"Yeah!" Victor shouted. "Mike, open the sunroof!"_

 _"Oh my God!" Marcy laughed as the other boys cheered him on. Unbuckling his seatbelt, Victor stood up and poked his upper body out of the sunroof, smiling at the street._

 _"WE WON!" Victor screamed, raising both his hands up. "WE'RE THE WINNERS! NOTHING CAN STOP US NO—"_

 _Just as he shouted that, Victor's eyes widened when Mike accidentally drove into the wrong lane. A car was speeding down the highway, and Victor could see the driver's stunned face right before it slammed into the car._

 _That was the last thing Victor remembered before everything went black._

* * *

Cyborg frowned at the strange training course. It was brightly colored, and it looked simple. Was this really what these villains in training were practicing on? Maybe that's why they were so easily defeated. He glanced to his right where Jinx stood, her eyes sweeping over the course in suspicion. Unlike their leader, Gizmo and Mammoth were just making silly faces at each other as though this was a giant joke.

When Cyborg heard the loud beep, the training course suddenly came to life. The walls opened and robots walked out. Parts of the tiles flipped over to reveal guns firing lasers. "Maneuver three!" Jinx suddenly shouted and sprung into action.

Cyborg blinked. "Wait I don't know that one!"

The three ignored him and dashed into the course. Grumbling, Cyborg quickly followed and hoped he could follow what they were doing. Just before he could catch up to them, all of the robots focused on him, and he groaned. Great, just what he needed. Bracing himself, he was prepared to take on these lousy robots until…

 _Terra stood above him, glaring at all the titans as Slade's robot army surrounded her._

Cyborg gasped and the robot's fist slammed into him. _That's right_ , he thought as he fell to the ground. The last time he faced robots was the same day Terra died. Shutting his eyes tightly, he tried to rid himself of the image of the blonde girl. That gave the robots an advantage as they grabbed him and held him back.

"Guys!" Jinx's voice called out. "That's not maneuver three! What are you—dammit!"

Cyborg frowned and glanced behind the robot. Wires grabbed Gizmo and Mammoth, hoisting them up for the entire class to see their failure. Jinx glared at the machines and attempted to fight them on her own. She appeared to be winning, but she was struggling. Cyborg clenched his fists and jumped up, forcing his body back against the robot so he could kick the one in front of him. The robot loosened his grip on him, and he whirled around, punching it and hurling it at the other robot. Once they had fallen, Cyborg rushed to Jinx's side.

"You try to free them," he shouted at her. "I'll back you up."

Instead of arguing, Jinx nodded and quickly shifted her focus to the origin of the wires. Cyborg stayed behind her and fought anything that came in her path. When it was clear the machines would not break down, Jinx turned to him. "Change of plan," she shouted. "You're strong. Rip the tiles from the ground and throw them. I'll defend you!"

Nodding, Cyborg and Jinx quickly shifted their positions. Jinx now stood in front of him and used her powers to ensure they were not caught. Cyborg leaned down and grabbed two of the yellow, hexagon tiles. Ripping them from the ground, he hurled them at the wires, successfully breaking them. Gizmo and Mammoth fell, free from their constraints. Jinx whirled around and beamed at him. "You did it!"

" _We_ did it!" Cyborg panted, grinning back. He was actually happy which was a strange feeling. What he and Jinx just did felt like teamwork. They bounced ideas off each other, and they decided which one would be best. There was no fighting and no hesitation. In his team, they just followed Robin's ideas and that was it. This was the first time in a long time he felt like an equal.

 _"You want to be the team leader, but you know you can't be. Because Robin's a better leader."_

 _"You're a weak, powerless freak who takes orders from someone younger than you. Even if you win, even if you somehow manage to beat me and Slade, you'll always be second best to Robin, and that will never change."_

Cyborg grit his teeth together, trying to ignore the words that flooded through his head. Terra never meant those things. Slade was manipulating her. They weren't true. "Hey," Jinx nudged him. "It's the headmaster!"

Frowning, Cyborg turned to see an older man hover down onto the field. He was using one of the tiles for the flight, and when he landed, he slowly walked up to them. His facial expression gave away none of his thoughts. "You," the headmaster looked at him dead in the eye. "I don't recall admitting you. You snuck in. You destroyed my course. You made my best students look like fools. You think you're so clever, don't you?"

Jinx flushed at the last comment. Cyborg clenched his fists, about to argue that perhaps he made some sort of mistake, but the headmaster merely smiled. "You're not clever. You're brilliant. What is your name?"

"Stone." Cyborg stated. "And you're…?"

"Brother Blood," he answered, holding out his hand. Since Cyborg was in his "stone" form, he shook his head without any problems. Since his hand was technical and not made from flesh, Brother Blood would not think it was strange for the stone to feel hard. If he was in his "human" form though… he had to be careful who touched him.

"Nice to meet you." Cyborg replied stiffly. Brother Blood nodded, staring at him with newfound interest.

Turning to the three students, Brother Blood's expression shifted to one of anger. "As for you three, how dare you make yourselves look like fools? Again?" Brother Blood growled, his eyes turning red. "You can't seem to stop yourselves from being an embarrassment?"

He continued to shout at the three of them in front of the whole class. Cyborg watched their expressions closely. Gizmo appeared terrified, and Mammoth hung his head in shame. Jinx was the only one who looked him directly in the eye. She looked determined, and Cyborg was unsure of why. Soon Brother Blood turned his attention to the rest of the students and began talking about a class project that would make their enemies tremble. Their enemies? Did that mean the Teen Titans?

Cyborg knew he would have to stay until the class project was announced. He glanced at the three students and frowned. "You guys okay?" he whispered.

Jinx nodded and took a step closer to him, whispering so her teammates wouldn't hear, "Fine. You?"

"Fine."

* * *

Robin sat on the couch, patiently waiting for Cyborg to call the team. It had been a whole day, and they received no from of communication. The rest of the team also sat in the lounge. He could tell they were worried, and he didn't know how to reassure them that Cyborg was probably fine. "Guys," Beast boy whispered, "what if they caught him? What if…"

"I don't think so," Robin shook his head. "He's probably just overwhelmed by everything and hasn't had the time to call. He's fine."

Beast boy clearly didn't believe him. Robin didn't blame him. Before Terra, the possibility of any of them dying seemed foreign. Sure, they've had a few close calls that made them panic, but they always ended up being fine. This was the first time someone truly died in combat, and the possibility became a reality. "He's calling!" Starfire suddenly jumped up. On the screen, Cyborg's face appeared. He was still wearing his disguise, and it felt strange to see him as human looking.

"Hey guys," Cyborg smiled. "Sorry I couldn't call. It took forever before I could move into the dorms!"

"It's fine." Robin stood up. "What do you have?"

"Not much," he admitted. "I met the headmaster, Brother Blood, and he's planning some sort of class project that will make their enemies fall. I'm guessing he means us. He hasn't announced anything about that yet, so I'll have to stay here until he does."

"Are you sure?" Beast boy frowned. "Isn't that dangerous?"

Cyborg smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine, BB."

"Just check in with us once a day," Robin spoke up. "Just so we know you're okay."

"You got it," Cyborg smiled only to frown. His voice lowered to a whisper. "Someone knocked on my door. I have to go. Bye."

He abruptly hung up.

"See?" Robin turned to Beast boy. "He's fine."

Beast boy nodded, and Starfire flew to him, wrapping her arms around the smaller boy. Robin smiled softly and turned his gaze to Rave, who didn't tear her eyes away from the book she was reading. She most likely felt his stare, but she did nothing about it. Robin frowned and glanced back at his other two teammates. What had he done to make Raven ignore him like that? What was going on in her head? He needed to find out, or he might lose his friend.

* * *

Cyborg opened the door to his dorm and blinked when he sat Jinx standing there, smirking at him. "Hey," she said. "Mind if I come in?"

"Isn't there a policy against having girls in the boys dorms after a certain time?" he asked.

"You go to a school dedicated to teaching students how to break rules," she snorted. "Trust me, they won't care."

He nodded and stepped to the side, allowing the pink haired girl to walk in. Instead of being dressed in her usual dark dress and heels, she wore gym shorts and a tank top. Her hair was still up, but it looked messy. It was as though she decided to come here at the last minute. Strutting into the room, Jinx briefly glanced around before seating herself at one of the desk chairs. Cyborg moved to sit on his bed. "What's up?"

Jinx frowned and crossed her legs. "Well," she ran her hand through her hair. "I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?"

She nodded. "My team is a bunch of idiots. I try my best to lead them, but they never pay attention to anything I say. I'll give them commands, and they start doing their own thing. We've gotten better, but it's still a big problem. You… you paid attention to what I was saying, and I wanted to thank you for it."

"No problem," he shifted uncomfortably. "I mean, I kind of get it."

"You do?"

"Before I came here, I was on a team," he might as well tell the truth considering she'll never find out who he was. "We were all supposed to be equals, but there was this one kid who was just smarter than everyone. He'd come up with all these ideas and plans, but he'd never share them. After a while, he became our team leader. He's gotten better with the whole plan sharing thing, but he still never uses our ideas just his own. It gets frustrating after a while because I knew I could lead just as well as he could, and my plans were just as smart. It's why I came here. I wanted to prove it to myself."

 _Even though this was another one of Robin's plans…_

Jinx smiled. "Screw that guy then. I think you're brilliant."

"Thanks," he smiled back. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"What made you join?" he asked.

Jinx sighed and leaned back in the chair. "When I was a kid, I wanted to be like Wonder Woman."

Cyborg blinked, surprised by that answer. He'd met Wonder Woman once, and she an amazing, powerful woman. But Jinx was a villain? Why would she grow up wanting to be a hero? He tilted his head to the side. "I'm confused. The hero? Wonder Woman? Part of the Justice League?"

Jinx snorted. "What other Wonder Woman is there?"

"Things must have changed from when you were a kid."

"Not really," Jinx shrugged. "I just… I don't know. I knew I had these powers, and I looked up to Wonder Woman. She was a part of the Justice League, and everyone respected her. I wanted to grow up and be a part of something like that."

Cyborg stared at her. Jinx wanted to be good? "I still don't follow."

She smiled sadly. "I'm bad luck. Literally. All my powers do is cause destruction and chaos. I never had the chance to be good, but I still wanted to be part of something. Something big. And I wanted to be respected in it too. It's why I came here."

"But you're not respected?"

"I'm not, but I'm trying to earn it," she said, her eyes full of hope. "I want Brother Blood to see I'm wasting my talents trying to lead Mammoth and Gizmo. I want him to see I can do so much better if I'm given an opportunity, and I'm trying really hard to make him see that. I think if we partnered up, we could do that."

"You, me, Gizmo, and Mammoth? Cyborg questioned.

She shook her head. "Just you and me. We've got potential, Stone. We have the determination. We can do it! Why should we bother sticking to a team that's holding us back?"

Cyborg gulped. While he would never join Jinx and turn evil, she did have a point. Why was he with the Teen Titans when he could be a leader? When he could prove himself to be more than what the team gave him credit for? Jinx was just like him. On the other side, maybe, but she understood. "Let's do it, Jinx."

She grinned and literally lunged into his arms, hugging him tightly. He froze momentarily. Could she feel the robotic parts of his body? How he didn't emit heat like normal flesh did? He shut his eyes tightly, waiting for Jinx to say something, but she didn't. "You feel like stone," she mumbled in his ear.

He snorted, not realizing he was wrapping his arms around her. "Yeah… I guess I do."

* * *

 _"What's going on?" Victor mumbled when he opened his eyes. He couldn't… feel anything. It was a strange sensation. "What…?"_

 _"Victor?"_

 _Victor glanced to the side. His father stood above him, his eyes filled with worry. His dad was worried about him? Why? His dad never cared. Suddenly a flash of memories hit him, and he remembered: the party, the drinking, the crash… Gasping, he tried to sit up, but his father quickly shoved him back down. It didn't take much because he was so weak. What he thought was odd was that he couldn't feel his fathers hands on his chest. "Dad? What happened?"_

 _"You nearly died," his father whispered. "They couldn't save you… your body was just too… I had you transferred to my lab, and I had to work quickly. I've had a theory for a while, and I was researching it, but I never got to test it. You were going to die… I just… I had to try."_

 _"Research?" Cyborg mumbled as his head fell onto his shoulder. He frowned at the cold, hard feeling of it. Shakily raising his hand, he gasped when he saw it was no longer flesh but metal. "Dad… dad what did you do to me?"_

 _"I did what I had to…"_

 _"What did you do to me!" He continued to scream. "My body… where's my body?!"_

* * *

Alice: Thanks for reading!

Emily: Next chapter will be up by next Wednesday the 29th at the latest!

Alice: Let me know what you guys thought of the story!


	3. Deception Part 3

Alice: New chapter!

Emily: Next will be X.

Alice: That's going to be an interesting episode.

Emily: Enjoy!

Alice: Also I'm debating writing another Teen Titans story.

Emily: The summary is basically Warp accidentally bringing Robin's parents from the past, and the team (plus Robin) having to deal with that.

Alice: If you want me to write it, just vote on the poll I have up for which fandom I should write next, and vote for Teen Titans.

Emily: **Just a warning: in this chapter, there's an implied sort of M scene. It's not written out, but it's really heavily implied so yeah.**

* * *

 **Deception**

 _Part 3_

In the following days, Cyborg was excelling at everything. In his exercises, he could lift the heaviest weights, run the fastest, and beat the strongest drones. In school, he answered every question correctly and had straight A's. Even in his social life, he was slowly rising to popularity. Jinx stood by him throughout this and smiled brightly whenever he succeeded. Sometimes, during lunch, they would test each other just to see who knew more. It was a fun, competitive game, and they usually ended up tying.

Sometimes Jinx and him pulled pranks on Gizmo and Mammoth whenever they did something particularly embarrassing. It was the most fun he's had in a while. Sure, Titans Tower was great, but the death of Terra really took a toll on all of them. Not to mention the drama between Robin, Raven, and Starfire, and the pressure Cyborg felt to prove himself against Robin. It was exhausting, so it was nice to escape all that.

"Stone," Brother Blood suddenly called out in class. "Every good doomsday threat needs?"

Jinx giggled when he froze. It was clear he wasn't paying attention, and he quickly thought of every textbook he read. It was then he realized this was a school about villains! He faced them all the time. His mind flashed to Slade and how he managed to trick Robin by becoming his apprentice. He set up a distraction to infect the team. Even with Terra, he manipulated them by sending her in as a friend. Manipulation… "Effective misdirection?" he tried not to stutter.

Brother Blood smiled. "Good."

Jinx snorted and smiled at him. He blushed, smiling back. That's when he froze. He stared at Jinx for a long time, an expression of shock on his face. Her smile shifted to a concerned look, but he didn't bother trying to hide his surprise. He liked her! He had a crush on the villain! Flushing, he quickly turned back to Brother Blood's teaching. Instead of being confused by his attitude, Jinx just giggled as though she knew what he finally just realized.

A paper slipped in front of him with Jinx's handwriting.

 _'Took you long enough.'_

He blushed heavily and tried not to think of his new discovery. Robin was going to kill him!

* * *

Robin was going to kill him!

It had been a week since Cyborg first contacted him. They had agreed Cyborg would contact him once a day. Now Beast boy was beside himself with worry, Starfire was trying to distract herself by any means necessary, and Raven still wouldn't talk to him! Stress was overtaking Robin's body, and he tried to calm himself down. The last time he had an "episode" was with Terra, and he refused to allow his team to see him like that again.

"Robin?"

Robin sighed. "Starfire… now's not a good time."

The alien nodded, approaching him anyway. He had been staring at the computer screen and hadn't bothered looking at her. "You are worrying me," she confessed, "and the team. Cyborg will be all right. It is possible he hasn't had the chance to contact us."

Robin clenched his fists. "I know… it's just a bad feeling I have."

Starfire nodded and played with her fingers. "Robin…" she mumbled. "I think you should talk to Raven."

His head whipped around, looking at her for the first time since the conversation started. He sighed. "I've tried."

"Try harder," Starfire insisted. "She's in pain, and you are too. From what I've seen, you two are better at handling your pain together than you are apart."

Robin searched her eyes and her expression. She honestly meant it, and it warmed his heart a bit. Looking at her now, he could admit she was beautiful. She was perhaps one of the sweetest people he's ever met. Loyal although a bit naïve. Still, she was very strong as well. "I'm sorry I couldn't love you," he blurted out. He frowned, unsure of where that comment came from.

She seemed surprised as well. Smiling softly, she nodded. "It's alright," there was a hint of sadness in her tone, and she attempted to hide it by smiling. "Love isn't something you choose. It's something that happens."

Robin nodded, crossing his arms and staring at the ground. Likely he was pondering her words.

Starfire smiled and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Talk to Raven." She stated before leaving the lounge. Robin sighed, unable to tear his eyes away from the ground. He had tried talking to Raven multiple times and received nothing in return. She wanted nothing to do with him. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair.

Maybe he would just have to try harder…

* * *

Cyborg tugged at his collar, frowning at the strange feeling. He wasn't used to wearing clothes, and he especially wasn't used to wearing a tux. HIVE Academy was hosting it's annual dance, and Mammoth, Gizmo, and Jinx invited him to go. Jinx… he blushed at the thought of her. The last time he felt like this was with Marcy, and that didn't end up well at all.

Sighing, he exited his dorm and made his way to the gym. It was large enough to host the dance, and multiple people were already there. Bumblebee, one of his classmates, actually winked at him when he walked in the gym. Blushing, he turned away from the girl and tried to find his friends. Mammoth and Gizmo were by the table, eating the food and laughing about something. They looked strange wearing tuxes. He made his way towards them but a hand grabbed his arm before he could. "Stone!" Jinx exclaimed, smiling brightly. "Dance with me!"

Cyborg gasped at the sight of her. She was wearing a long, black gown with laced sleeves. It fit her body beautifully, and her hair was down. She looked… "You look amazing," he blurted out.

She giggled and grabbed his hand, taking him to the middle of the dance floor. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she began swaying to the music. Cyborg faltered for a moment before placing his hands on her hips. "Wow," he glanced around. "This feels like high school all over again."

"High school?" she questioned. "What was that like?"

He flinched. "It was okay. It didn't end up well for me though."

That was an understatement.

She nodded and didn't ask any more questions. Cyborg was thankful for that, and the two continued dancing.

After around a half an hour of dancing, Jinx leaned towards him and whispered, "I have something to give you. Follow me."

Cyborg frowned as she gripped his hand and led him out of the gym. Some of the students were watching them, and they all winked at him. All except for Bumblebee, who stared at him with something akin to disappointment. It was a strange look that reminded him of Robin, and he gulped. Ignoring her stare, he turned to Jinx and walked out of the gym into the quiet hallway.

"Alone!" She stretched her arms above her head. "Finally!"

"Yeah," he sounded unsure. Jinx smiled and sat on the ground, not caring that she was wearing an expensive dress. Chances are she stole it though. Following her lead, he sat beside her and leaned against the lockers. "You have something to give me?"

She nodded. "Yeah." She held out her hand and in it was a HIVE communicator. Cyborg's eyes widened as he hesitantly took it. "You're one of us now," she smiled proudly.

"Thank you," he whispered, his gut twisting in guilt.

"No," she shook her head, placing a hand on his knee. "Thank you. I've never met someone like you… someone who understands. I don't normally fall for people so quickly, but you're different."

Cyborg stared at her, his eyes revealing both love and regret. "Jinx…"

"I know you feel the same way," she teased. "So don't bother denying it."

He laughed at her comment, but it didn't erase the horror he felt towards the situation. "I do feel the same way," he admitted.

She smiled, and he was entranced by it. She looked so beautiful, and she truly was one of the most understanding people he'd ever met. Without noticing, his body was leaning towards her, and she was leaning towards him. He softly placed his hand on her cheek, and they were inches away from kissing…

Until an image of the team popped in his head. He shook his head, pulling away from her and sighing guiltily. Jinx opened her eyes and frowned, confused by his actions. "Why?" she whispered, clearly hurt by his actions.

He looked at her, not bothering to hide behind any mask. She read his expression, and her eyes softened in sympathy. While she clearly didn't understand why he pulled away, she understood his need to. Smiling softly, she quickly kissed his cheek. "Thank you for the dance," she whispered, standing up. With one last look, she walked down the halls, not bothering to go back in the gym. Cyborg sighed, leaning his head against the locker.

It was for the best, he told himself.

Still, it didn't feel that way.

* * *

 _Victor stared at his robotic hand, unsure of how to react to it. He had been awake for a week, and his father explained he needed to replace his body with technology in order to ensure he lived. He was released an hour ago from his father's work place, and he made sure to hide his body with a giant hoodie. When his father dropped him off at the empty house, Victor instantly rushed to his room. His father explained he needed to go back to S.T.A.R. Labs to continue researching Victor's surgery to make sure it wouldn't cause any life threatening problems, and his mother was already there._

 _He was left home alone with the orders to not go outside until his family figured out what to do next._

 _The moment Silas left the house Victor instantly called Marcy. From what he heard, he was the only person seriously injured. "Victor?" she answered immediately. "Oh my God! Victor! Are you okay?"_

 _"Marcy," he smiled. "I'm fine."_

 _"You've been gone for a while month!" She cried. "Are you home?"_

 _"I am but…"_

 _"I'm coming over." She declared. Before Victor could say anything, she hung up. He gulped and looked over his body. His head was the only flesh left, and he mourned for his normal body. Now the majority of his body couldn't feel anything. He desperately hoped Marcy would understand that it would take a while to adjust to the body._

 _When she finally arrived at the house, she ran to him and hugged him. Victor was about to talk about how much he missed her, but she instantly recoiled. With an expression of disbelief, her hands went to the zipper of his jacket and yanked it down, revealing his body. When she looked back up at him, she appeared to notice half of his face was replaced with something robotic. "You…" she whispered, her eyes full of fear._

 _"Marcy," he raised his hand._

 _"Don't touch me!" She spat. "What the hell are you?"_

 _"I'm… I'm a cyborg," he whispered. "It was the only way to save my life. Marcy…?"_

 _She shook her head in disgust. "I can't do this… I can't. Goodbye Victor."_

 _"What?" he laughed, but she didn't bother responding. Instead she just walked out of the house._

 _His girlfriend of one year broke up with him because she was so disgusted with his body._

 _And ever since then, he has been as well._

* * *

Robin couldn't stand it anymore. He called Cyborg and hoped he would answer. Right before making the decision, he had called the Teen Titans to the lounge. When they arrived, he announced that he would be calling Cyborg. Raven instantly protested.

"We could be endangering him," she argued.

"Or we could be saving his life." Robin crossed his arms. "He hasn't contacted us in over a week even though we agreed to talk every day. Something's wrong."

"Or it's going as planned, and Cyborg doesn't have the time to report to us," Raven glared at him. Robin scowled and rebutted, and the two of them began another fight.

Amidst all the arguing, Beast boy and Starfire glanced at each other. "We should call him," Beast boy declared, interrupting. "Just to make sure he's okay."

"I agree," Starfire nodded. Robin nodded, smirking at Raven as though to say he'd won. She merely rolled her eyes and sat back on the couch. Robin turned to the computer and began contacting Cyborg, who answered instantly.

 _"Guys,"_ he hissed. _"Now's not a good time. I'm studying for a big test tomorrow, and I might fail!"_

Robin blinked. "Please… tell me you're joking."

Cyborg recoiled from the comment, looking like he was about to argue but stopped himself. _"Yeah,"_ he mumbled. _"It was a joke. What's up?"_

"I should be asking that," he frowned. "You haven't contacted us in over a week."

 _"Sorry,"_ he sighed. _"It's just been really busy over here, and I have to blend in."_

Robin could see through the lie but didn't comment on it. "What do you have?" He asked instead.

 _"Not much_ ," Cyborg confessed. _"Brother Blood hasn't talked with the class about the project yet, and no one here seems to know what he's planning."_

Robin nodded. "The longer we keep you there, the more we're risking. We need to go on the offensive."

Cyborg nodded. _"What's your plan?"_

* * *

Another plan by Robin. He sighed, hacking into Brother Blood's computer. It was a great plan, and Cyborg wished he had thought of something better, but he didn't have the time to. Instead he ended up following Robin's commands. The plan was for Cyborg to hack into the computer to find information. If that didn't work and Cyborg was caught, the team would sneak into HIVE academy and try to find him. That meant Cyborg had only twenty four hours to report the information or the team would think something was wrong with him.

Sighing, he continued hacking into the computer until the files popped up. He smirked and began reading them. He gasped. They were building…

"An ion amplifier." Cyborg literally jumped as Brother Blood approached him from out of nowhere. The elderly man smirked. "This is quite a surprise Stone. Or should I say… Cyborg."

Cyborg glared and stood up, riding himself of the hologram and revealing his actual body. Brother Blood didn't seem too surprised, and he remembered the handshake earlier. Did Brother Blood know it was him from the beginning?

Brother Blood slowly walked towards him and continued speaking, "It's quite a remarkable weapon. Yet nothing like you, I'm afraid."

Nothing like him? Cyborg narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?" he demanded.

"It's not about what I want, Cyborg, but about what you want." Brother Blood's eyes flashed red, and Cyborg gasped when his mechanical hand turned into human flesh. For a second, it felt real. He could feel the warm air and when he squeezed his palm, he felt flesh. It was then the mechanical side of brain took over, and he realized he wasn't feeling anything. His hand was still mechanical even though it looked like flesh. Brother Blood was trying to brain wash him.

A plan formed in his head, and Cyborg pretended to gasp in surprise. "My hand… it's real!"

When the illusion disappeared, Cyborg yelled out in protest and fell to his knees. He needed to make this believable.

"What do you say?" Brother Blood smirked.

Cyborg shakily looked up at the man. "I'll do anything you say."

"Good." Brother Blood smirked.

"Brother Blood," Cyborg whispered, "My old team… Robin said if I didn't report the information in twenty four hours, he would invade the academy."

"Are you suggesting we send your team false information?"

"I'm saying we give my old team a welcoming party," he smirked, clenching his fists. This plan would work, and even Robin would congratulate him on his quick thinking. He'd gain both respect and the ion amplifier. Brother Blood nodded, and the two of them began to devise a plan for his team.

They wouldn't know what hit them. Both his team and Brother Blood.

* * *

 _When he received the call, he was sitting at home reading books about technology and computers. It had been six months since Marcy broke up with him, and he never bothered reaching out to his high school friends. For all they knew, he was dead. Or maybe Marcy told them what he was. Either way, that life was far behind him._

 _He answered the phone without a care. The caller ID said it was his father, and Victor knew Silas was most likely checking on him again. Ever since the accident, his father became sympathetic, caring, and supportive. It was as though he finally realized he had a son after he nearly died. "Hey dad," Victor answered._

 _"Victor," his father gasped out, and he could tell he had been crying._

 _"Dad?" he questioned, placing the book down. "Dad, what is it?"_

 _"Your mother's dead."_

 _Victor froze. "W-what?" he laughed. "You're kidding."_

 _"Something happened at the lab today," his father was choking up. "It killed your mother. We tried to save her but it was too late. She's gone Cyborg."_

 _"I don't… what?" he rambled. "She's… but she was here this morning? I don't…"_

 _"I'm coming home, Victor. I'll be there in thirty minutes. We'll talk then."_

 _His father abruptly hung up, leaving Victor alone to deal with the news. It made no sense. This morning his mother was there and smiling at him. Throughout his entire life, she had been there for him, supporting him. She was his lifeline, and she was gone._

 _Numb to his surroundings, Victor stood up and walked out of the house. His dark hoodie was on along with his jeans. No one could tell what he was. If they had, he didn't care. He just kept walking. The shock overtook him, but he understood one thing: he could no longer bear to be in that house ever again._

 _The only question was where he would go now…_

* * *

Jinx was going to discover who he truly was. That was unavoidable, and it disheartened Cyborg. For the first time, he walked to her dorm ignoring the fact that boys were now allowed near the girls' dorms. Jinx constantly broke that rule to visit him, so he could do the same for her. Gulping he found her room number and reluctantly knocked on the door. This would be hard.

She answered without a thought and blinked in surprise when she saw him. "Hey?" She appeared confused. "Want to come in?"

He nodded, and she moved to the side so he could walk in. He sat on her bed and sighed. She followed his lead and frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Tomorrow's going to be difficult," he confessed, staring at her with sad eyes. "I just talked to Brother Blood and… you're going to find out some things about me that are going to upset you a lot."

Jinx parted her lips. "Like the reason you didn't kiss me?"

He shakily nodded. "Yeah."

"And you can't tell me now? Before all this happens?" She was so calm about this. It was relieving and worrying at the same time.

Cyborg sighed. "If you ask me, I will."

"But you're not ready to tell me?" Jinx deduced, her question sounding more like a statement.

"I don't think I ever will be." Cyborg turned to face her. "I want you to know that I've lied a lot. I've lied about who I am and what I can do. You're going to find that out, so I want you to know this now. What I've told you about my past and about my old team… I meant that. Every word."

She nodded. "I believe you."

"I also meant it when I said I have feelings for you," he lowered his voice to a whisper. "It's something that I didn't intend to happen, but it did. I'm sorry if I hurt you, and I mean that. I didn't want this to happen but…"

"It did." She finished for him. Her eyes searched his expression. "I'm going to be really upset tomorrow, aren't I?"

"I'm sorry."

"There's no other way, is there?"

"I wish there was."

"Alright then." She nodded, smiling softly at him. "For now then want to just pretend tomorrow doesn't exist?"

Cyborg frowned, tilting his head to the side. She giggled, rolling her eyes at his confusion. She jerked her head towards the bed and gave him an expecting look.

He automatically blushed. "It'll just hurt even more tomorrow."

"Then let's just deal with that tomorrow," she whispered, leaning towards him.

He flushed even more. "Jinx… I can't. I really can't."

She frowned, about to comment until she looked at his pained expression. Her eyes widened in realization of what he meant, and she nodded in understanding. With her hand, she lightly brushed his cheek. "We'll work around it," she whispered. "Just focus on me. Tomorrow doesn't exist. Trust me, Stone."

"Victor," he whispered.

She frowned. "What?"

"My name is Victor."

"Okay," she smiled, "Victor."

That night, for both of them, tomorrow would never happen.

* * *

It had been twenty-four hours and no report. Robin immediately devised a plan on how to break into the HIVE Academy, and for once, Raven didn't make a single argument. Just in case "Stone" wasn't revealed to be Cyborg, they decided to bring along the robotic replacement. Beast boy initially protested but eventually saw reason.

That's how the "five" of them ended up in the center of the HIVE Academy where it was completely empty. Robin frowned and pulled out his communicator. "Cyborg's signal is coming from below us," he stated.

Raven nodded but frowned. "There's more below us… I think—"

Before she had time to finish, the floor beneath them literally flipped, and if Starfire hadn't grabbed Robin in time, he would have died from the impact. The titans lowered themselves to the floor and immediately prepared for battle. An elderly man, who Robin assumed was Brother Blood, stood above them along with Jinx, Mammoth, Gizmo, and Cyborg. He frowned. Cyborg told them the team was coming? Why? Cyborg wouldn't betray them, that much Robin knew. Then why…?

A diversion, Robin realized with a smirk. This was all to distract Brother Blood so Cyborg could obtain whatever weapon he needed. A brilliant plan.

"Attack pattern alpha!" Cyborg and Jinx shouted at once. The team leaped up and instantly started attacking in a concise, organized manner. Robin gritted his teeth and instantly ran towards the team. Jinx ran straight past him to go after Raven, and Mammoth attempted to attack Starfire. That left Gizmo to run towards the fake Cyborg and Beast boy.

Stone was all his.

The two instantly began fighting, and Robin tried to go easier to ensure Cyborg could stay in the fight longer. When his eyes narrowed and his fighting became harsher, Robin frowned. It was as though Cyborg knew he was going easy on him and was demanding he go full out.

If that's what he wanted…

Robin leaped up and used his momentum to kick Cyborg across the face. The force knocked him over, and Cyborg barely had enough time to roll over when Robin was about to kick him again. The two continued fighting although it was clear who would win. "Stone!" Jinx shouted and instantly rushed to his side. With her powers, Jinx hurled everything she had at Robin.

Raven noticed, and before Robin was hit, a force field surrounded him, blocking the attacks.

Robin smirked at her. "I had that handled," he teased.

Raven blinked before rolling her eyes at him. "Shut up," she replied, but Robin saw a hint of a smile. He beamed at her in response, but from the corner of his eye saw Cyborg rushing towards him. He quickly ducked from the attack, and his eyes couldn't help but sought out Raven, who was fighting with Jinx once again.

He couldn't help but notice how Jinx would look back to check up on Stone, and Cyborg was doing the same.

Robin's eyes widened at the realization.

Oh no…

Not again!

Gritting his teeth, Robin attempted to get close enough to communicate with Cyborg. Was he actually betraying them for Jinx? No, Cyborg would never do that. Was Jinx on their side now? What did Jinx know if she knew anything at all? What had he done with her? Cyborg refused to allow him to get too close, and frustration built in Robin. At least with Beast boy and Terra, he knew the dynamic of their relationship and understood Beast boy would never betray the team for her.

With Jinx and Cyborg, he knew nothing, and he hated the feeling.

He began fighting harder but at the same time tried to keep his mind in check. It had been three months since his last freak out, and he refused to have another one especially in front of the enemy again.

He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't realize Jinx's team was fighting them in a manner that would force them all together. By the time he noticed, it was too late. Gizmo flew over them and dropped some sort of sphere that entrapped them in a force field. Starfire and Raven instantly tried to break it with their powers, but it was useless.

The only member of the team left outside of the sphere was the fake Cyborg, which was on attack mode. The fake Cyborg slammed into the real Cyborg's side, knocking him over. "Stone!" Jinx shouted in concern, and Robin frowned. She wasn't in on the plan then. If she had been, she would have known the fake Cyborg was not nearly powerful enough to harm him.

The poor girl was about to have her heart broken.

The real Cyborg screamed in fury, and he instantly began beating the fake Cyborg. In his eyes was a rage Robin had never seen before. Pure hatred ran through Cyborg's veins and it was all directed at the image across from him. He beat the robot endlessly, and Robin's gaze became sympathetic.

He truly hated himself that much?

Cyborg was so lost in beating the robot he didn't notice the amount of force he was applying to the rings. One of them shattered and the image of Stone became distorted until it shattered, and Cyborg's true body was there for the world to see. "Cyborg!" Jinx gasped, her entire body becoming stiff.

"He's a fake!" Gizmo shouted, about to attack, but a hand on his chest prevented him from moving.

Brother Blood was smirking at him. "No. He's one of us."

Cyborg slowly stood up, his eyes fixed on Brother Blood. "And I'm ready to prove it."

He slowly walked to the group and stopped in front of Brother Blood. His team protested in the background except for Robin. Cyborg knew Robin already figured out his plan. "Here," Brother Blood strapped the ion amplifier onto his arm. As Brother Blood explained how it would increase his power, Cyborg's eyes drifted to Jinx, who stared at him with wide eyes.

Suddenly her expression changed into sadness.

It was then Cyborg realized she knew he was going to betray them. He gulped, expecting her to call him out and reveal his plan. But instead she shook her head and begged him with her eyes. She still wanted to be with him… after everything… even though she knew the truth about his body…

He sent her an apologetic gaze filled with body sadness and determination. Neither would leave their respective sides for the other.

She nodded her head in understanding but her eyes still revealed heartbreak. Cyborg was pretty sure his own held the same thing.

When the ion amplifier was strapped onto his arm, he turned towards the team as Brother Blood was encouraging him to kill them. He looked at Robin, who was staring at him with a blank expression. Cyborg smiled as he raised his arm "Sorry."

He instantly whirled around and fired at Brother Blood, who barely had enough time to deflect the attack. Instead it hit the ceiling and caused the entire building to shatter. "You fool!" Brother Blood screamed as he quickly retreated onto one of the flying tiles. Gizmo and Mammoth quickly followed, but Jinx lingered behind, her expression not changing.

"You could have been one of us." She stated. _You could have been with me_ was the underlying message.

"I could have been a lot of things." He replied. Without breaking her gaze, Jinx backed up and hopped onto the tile, flying away with her team. Cyborg sighed and turned to his own team, using his newfound power to hit the machine maintaining the force field.

"Let's get out of here," Robin said the moment they were free. He never took his eyes away from Cyborg. Cyborg gulped.

Robin knew.

* * *

By the time they made it back, Cyborg had already filled in the team of almost everything that happened during his mission. He listened as Beast boy ranted on about how worried he was, and he smiled as Starfire and Raven congratulated him on the mission. Only Robin was silent, staring at him with an unreadable look. He placed the ion amplifier in the weapon's vault and made his way back to his room.

He wasn't surprised when he saw Robin sitting on his desk chair.

"Hey," Cyborg greeted him.

Robin smiled softly. "You want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" He feigned ignorance.

"A multitude of things actually," Robin leaned back on the chair. "How you literally beat yourself to death, how you had to pretend to be someone you weren't for a long period of time, how that someone you weren't had things you desperately wanted, and how you had to leave Jinx behind."

Damn Robin and his observations. "I'm not in the mood for this," he grumbled.

Robin's eyes softened. "I get it, you know."

"Get what?"

"Changing. My body didn't change, but my outlook did. My girlfriend at the time hated how different I was, and I desperately tried to pretend I was okay… that I was the same person before… Anyway, we ended up breaking up. I still love her, but the person I was… the person who could actually be with her was gone. I guess I don't know exactly how you feel, but it's pretty similar," Robin shrugged, as though this confession wasn't a big deal when it clearly was. The team was rarely provided insight on Robin's past. This was a major confession.

Cyborg sighed, leaning against the wall. "I never got to finish high school because of this," he confessed. "Being there felt right… felt normal. I could pretend I wasn't who I am."

Robin nodded. "You're not normal though. Cyborg, you're a hero. You've saved so many people because of who you are as opposed to when you were 'normal.'"

"I know." Cyborg sighed.

"It doesn't totally erase the feeling though, does it?" Robin sympathized. "I'm going to be honest with you: it never goes away. The 'what if's' and the 'if I had done this differently' and the craving to go back to who you were before… it never stops. But it gets better after a while. I can promise you that."

Cyborg nodded, staring at Robin and biting his lip. "You never answered me when I asked you if you were in love with Raven."

Much like last time, Robin didn't react at all to the question. He just stared at Cyborg as though he were waiting for him to finish that thought. Cyborg gulped and continued, "What does it…"

Robin smiled, anticipating the end of his sentence. "I was in love with my ex for a long time," he chuckled. "Still am, like I said. When you feel like that with someone, when you're with someone in that manner, it never goes away. You'll always love them even if you understand you can't be with them. Once you realize that, it stops hurting."

Cyborg nodded, folding his hands together and desperately wishing he could feel the cold steel. "When does that happen?"

"It took me five months for it to stop hurting," he replied honestly. "And another four months to move on. It's different for everyone."

Cyborg stared at Robin for a long time. "Thanks, Robin."

His leader smiled at him and hopped up from the chair, stretching out his upper body. When he was done, he walked towards the door only to pause. "Get some sleep Stone," he looked directly at him. "You're going to need it."

Cyborg froze, staring at Robin with wide eyes. "That was a fake name," he lied, "I made it up to go along with the powers."

Robin nodded although it was clear he didn't believe him. "Goodnight then Cyborg."

Cyborg numbly nodded as Robin walked out of the room. Even though he was gone, Cyborg still mumbled, "Goodnight Robin."

He had a lot to think about.

* * *

Alice: Wow that was long.

Emily: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought!

Alice: I tried making Cyborg and Robin's backstories really similar (an accident changing them, failed relationships due to that change, running away from a father/father-figure) since the two of them seem so alike but very different at the same time (which is probably why they fight so much).

Alice: The next chapter will be X!

Emily: If you thought there was a lot of RobRae fighting in Deception... let me tell you, X will have a ton of RobRae fights.

Alice: But at least they're interacting!

Emily: Remember to vote on the poll!

Alice: So far, I've gotten through the backstories of Beast boy, Robin, and Cyborg.

Emily: There will be a Starfire and Raven backstory, but those will most likely not be in this story but in upcoming ones.

Alice: Next chapter will be up by next Wednesday August 5th.


	4. X Part 1

Alice: New chapter!

Emily: I hope you all like it!

Alice: There will be much more RobRae moments although not exactly positive.

Emily: Don't forget to vote on my poll on which fandom I should write for next.

Alice: And here's the chapter!

* * *

 **X**

 _Part 1_

Robin learned long ago that there was good and there was evil. The difference between the two sides was the same as the difference between night and day. One side was peaceful, heroic even, while the other was cruel, and devious. There was a fine line between being good and being evil, and Robin thought he understood that as a child. It wasn't until one fateful night when Harley Quinn and the Joker tricked him, and he became their captive as a result. After all the torture, he grew to love the two as parents, and he stole for them, harmed for them.

By his old standards, that was evil. Yet Bruce assured him it was not his fault. How could he possibly make the right choices after what he had been through? It was that day he learned that the line between good and evil was not as clear as one might think. It was thin, so thin that it was almost impossible to see. On that night, when tensions ran high and his guardian nearly died at the Joker's hands, the line had all but disappeared when he pulled the trigger.

He murdered a man.

But that wasn't the closet he had come to being evil.

Even after everything he had been through, he would always his actions as Red X as being the closet to darkness he'd ever treaded. He robbed the people he swore to project, and he harmed the team he had come to know as family. While he had done worse as Junior, even as Slade's apprentice, he still considered his actions under Red X as the worst crimes he'd ever committed.

Unlike Junior, Red X wasn't birthed from endless torture and pain. Unlike the apprenticeship, there was no blackmail forcing him to commit these acts. It was his choice to create the suit, his choice to rob the buildings, and his choice to hurt his friends. After what happened, after he was discovered, he promised himself he would never tread that line again. He immediately locked up the suit deep in Titans Tower and rarely spoke of the incident afterwards. He didn't even tell Bruce out of shame for his actions.

Still, fate has a cruel way of reminding someone of their past mistakes.

When the team received an alert about a robbery, they instantly rushed to the scene. They made it in, and all were shocked at the masked villain before them: Red X. That slight moment of surprise gave Red X the advantage, and he instantly sprung into action, effectively hitting Cyborg first. Robin narrowed his eyes, and soon the titans were fighting someone who shouldn't exist.

And he was winning as well.

Robin silently cursed himself. When he created Red X, he made weapons that could easily take down each titan, and this new Red X seemed to know that. In minutes, each teammate was pinned down and unable to fight. The most recent one being pinned was Starfire, and Red X went up to her, leaning close, "You know, cutie, the real crime is that you and I haven't been on a date." If he wasn't wearing a mask, Robin's sure he would have winked.

Growling in frustration, Robin instantly tacked Red X and began fighting him. The team eventually started making their way out of their predicaments, and Red X seemed to notice. He quickly kicked Robin in the gut and grabbed one of the weapons on the floor. "I'd love to stay and chat," he spoke, "but I really have to go."

With that, he pressed a button on his belt and nothing happened. Robin smirked at the action and dashed towards the villain. Red X cursed and turned around, running while pressing the button. The two made it to the roof, and right before Robin could grab Red X, he disappeared. "Dammit!" Robin cursed, clenching his fists.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder spin him around and a pain on his cheek. He blinked and looked at Raven, who was standing in front of him, and his eyes widened. "You just hit me!" He accused, pressing a hand against his red cheek.

She shrugged. "Had to make sure you were real," she narrowed her eyes. "You are, aren't you?"

"He is." Starfire spoke up, and Robin realized the entire team had made it to the roof as well. "The new Red X attempted to set up a date between the two of us, and Robin would not do such a thing."

He winced at the truth behind that statement and how it might affect Starfire, but she seemed very calm about it. He sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair. "I'm real," he sighed. "I promise. Red X was a mistake, one that I promised myself I'd never make again."

"You better not," Raven mumbled under her breath.

Robin scowled. "What's the matter with you?"

"I'm sorry. I just don't like being reminded of the time you went behind our backs as a criminal and beat us up," Raven glared back at him. "Not exactly pleasant."

"Mom and dad are fighting again," Beast boy whispered to Cyborg but frowned at the lack of a response. Instead Cyborg's eyes were fixed on Robin, who was currently having a shouting match with Raven. Starfire merely backed up, unsure of what to do.

"You could have trusted us!"

"I do trust you guys! It was a mistake!"

"A mistake that proved you don't trust us," Raven crossed her arms. "Why are you even arguing? You know it's true. You had a plan, and you didn't fill us in because you didn't think we could do it."

Robin sighed. "Maybe I didn't but that was almost a year ago. Haven't I proved that I'm not like that anymore?"

Raven narrowed her eyes, and before she could speak, Starfire quickly interrupted, "Please! Shouldn't we attempt to track the new Red X instead of fighting?"

Both participants of the fight turned to her with glares, and she backed up a few steps. Slowly, Robin and Raven exhaled and began to slowly calm down. Crossing his arms, Robin faced the team once again. "Starfire's right. We need to catch him."

* * *

When the team arrived at the tower, they instantly noticed their leader's absence. Most likely he was brooding in his room over the new criminal they had to catch. That meant it was Cyborg's job to start talking to the team. Standing in front of them, Cyborg began listing the possibilities of who it could be and how they could have stolen the uniform that was so tightly locked up. After going through multiple possibilities, the team's hope on finding him began to diminish. "Let's face it!" Raven pinched the bridge of her nose. "Red X could be anyone smart enough to steal the suit and dumb enough to take it."

"How will we find out who he is then?" Starfire questioned.

"It doesn't matter." The team whirled around to see Robin walking into the lounge, staring at the computer screen that held pictures of Red X. "I created Red X. Every system… every weapon, so it's my responsibility to take him down."

Cyborg nodded. "Alright, so we need to catch him. How? Do you have any leads?"

"One," Robin began typing into the computer and a chemical formula appeared on the screen. "Zynothium. It's what I used to power the suit."

Almost instantly, horrified expressions bloomed on each Teen Titan. They knew about the chemical, and they knew how dangerous it was. "Zynothium." Cyborg stated calmly. "You used zynothium to power the suit…"

Robin flinched. "I did…"

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Cyborg bellowed. "DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THAT STUFF IS? HOW UNSTABLE IT IS? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED YOURSELF! HOW COULD YOU GO MESSING WITH IT? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE SOME KIND OF GENIUS?"

At the end of the rant, Robin sucked in a deep breath before speaking again. "Like I said," he gritted out. "It was a mistake."

Cyborg and Raven looked as though they were about to argue, but Beast boy instantly stepped in front of the two of them. "So how do you know he wants it?" he changed the subject. Like Starfire, he knew all of the fighting wouldn't help catch the criminal. Plus, he didn't want to see his team at odds with each other again.

"He stole a scanner that should be able to locate zynothium within a ten mile radius," Robin allowed the change of topic and pulled a picture of the scanner on the computer. "It was made due to the amount of zynothium poisoning from eighty or so years ago. Red X must have stolen it to repower his suit."

"Alright," Cyborg walked to the computer and began typing. "I'll download the molecular signature and transmit it to your—"

"No need."

Cyborg blinked and turned around. Robin was already halfway towards the door. He frowned. "How are you going to find it without a scanner?"

Robin turned around and offered a weak smile. "The same way I found it the first time," he stated before walking out of the room, leaving the titans in silence.

Cyborg, Beast boy, and Starfire all glanced at each other before turning to Raven. She raised an eyebrow at the sudden attention. "What?" she bit out.

"Keep an eye on him?" Starfire clapped her hands together with a small smile. "Please?"

"He's a big boy, Star. He can take care of himself," Raven argued.

"We both know that's not true," Cyborg snorted. "You know how he gets when he takes up personal responsibility to catch someone. Remember Slade?"

All the titans flinched at the memories of Robin obsessing over the fallen criminal and the lengths he went to just to catch him. Red X was one of those lengths, and it ended up costing them dearly. She sighed and glared at them. "Why can't one of you do it?"

"I need to figure out the molecular composition of zynothium and figure out if it's possible to depower the suit. I also want to transfer the signature to your communicators just in case we'd need to find some," Cyborg smiled at his excuse.

"Zynothium is quite common on my planet," Starfire stated. "I can help him with any of his questions."

"And I'm scared of Robin when he's like this." The team all turned to Beast boy, raising an eyebrow at his poor excuse. He shrugged, "What? It's true. He's terrifying!"

Raven sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Fine," she glared at them. "But you owe me one."

"Sure thing!"

"You got it, girl!"

"Have fun!"

She hated all of them.

* * *

Robin snuck into the old factory across the ocean easily. It had been almost a year since he first arrived here, and it looked much different than before. For starts, it was dustier and had no workers around. Boxes and crates were everywhere, signifying the company was moving a mass amount of product. He sighed, instantly figuring out that this place was no longer running. About to turn around, Robin nearly left until he saw red from the corner of his eye. Quickly, he jumped out of the way just as a black force field appeared where he was once standing.

He frowned. Raven was here? Why?

Shaking his head, he quickly leaped onto one of the crates and moved towards whoever was firing the weapon. They attempted to fire at him multiple times, but he was quick to dodge the attacks. Even if they were to hit him, Raven would instantly protect him with a shield. He quickly kicked the weapon out of the perpetrator's hands and grabbed the front of his suit, slamming him against the wall. He knew this man.

"Professor Chang," he smirked. "Remember me?"

From the corner of his eye, he saw Raven approach the two from behind him. "Ah yes," Professor Chang sweated nervously. "The good boy who wanted the dangerous weapon. How can I help you?"

"Zynothium. Where is it?" He shoved the man further into the wall.

"We don't have it anymore! Everyone who sold it to us skipped town… There is one company on the east side of town with a generous amount of zynothium, but it's not for sale! You'd have to steal it!" Professor Chang ranted out as quickly as he could.

Robin nodded, dropping the man and beginning to walk away. He glanced at Raven, who had been watching the encounter with a strange expression. "What?" he snapped.

"Did you have to be so violent with him?" She asked, walking by his side. "He's a defenseless old man."

"He's a lot of things, but defenseless isn't one of them."

Raven didn't bother asking how he knew that, and he was thankful for it. The two walked together in silence, afraid if either spoke another argument would form. Still Robin had to admit he was glad to have her there even though he suspected the rest of the team put her up to it.

 _"Are you in love with Raven?"_

Even though he didn't show it, Cyborg's question stunned Robin into silence. Had he been that obvious about his feelings for the girl? Did anyone else on the team know? Did Raven? She started avoiding him after prom, so maybe she had sensed his affections for her and did not return the feelings? As a result she started avoiding him? He sighed, running his gloved hand through his hair. Raven sent him a questioning look but didn't bother asking what was wrong, and Robin was glad she didn't.

After this Red X fiasco was solved, he'd have to start digging into what his teammates knew, or more importantly, what Raven knew.

* * *

Robin ended up calling the rest of the team with an agreement to meet where he believed Red X would strike next. They said they would be there as soon as possible, and it left Robin and Raven awkwardly waiting on top of the building. Once again, they spent the entire moment in silence, unsure of what to say or if their comments would start a fight. When the rest of the team came to the tower, they instantly noticed one of their members missing. "Where's Cyborg?" Robin narrowed his eyes.

"I don't know…" Beast boy frowned, glancing around him to check for his friend.

Robin clenched his fists. "Red x must have attacked him. Dammit!"

He ended up swinging around and punching the pure concrete of the building making the rest of the team jump. He sighed, rubbing his forehead and wondering where Red x could have gone with Cyborg. It was his fault one of his friends was hurt. If only he had just destroyed that damn suit! No, he couldn't have. The zynothium core would have been too dangerous to try and destroy. If only he had just not made the suit… if only he had not crossed that thin line of light and darkness… if only…

"You really like blaming yourself for everything, don't you?"

Robin frowned and turned his head to Raven, whose eyes were on his injured fist. "Excuse me?"

"It's not your fault," She approached him, softly grasping his hand and beginning to heal the broken bones.

He snorted. "That's not what you said earlier."

Her eyes drifted to his face, and she frowned at him. "I never said that. I said I didn't like the reminder that whole Red X situation happened not that it was your fault. You made a mistake, and you locked it away. Whoever stole that suit… it's their fault this is happening, and it's their fault Cyborg is hurt. Don't take the blame when you don't need to."

"But—"

"If you really want to blame yourself, go ahead," Raven interjected, "but at least stop feeling bad for yourself until we get Cyborg back and take Red X down. If you hurting yourself, you'll just end up letting him get away."

Robin nodded, a small smile appearing on his features. "Thanks Rae."

Raven returned it with a smile of her own and slowly let go of his hand, which lacked the dull pain from before. It was the first time they had a real conversation without fighting since Terra died, and it felt refreshing. Robin turned to the team with newfound energy and a smirk. "Let's take down Red X."

* * *

Alice: Thanks for reading!

Emily: Part two should be up by next Wednesday at the latest.

Alice: Don't forget to vote on the poll! It's closing today!

Emily: Basically I have two story ideas for Teen Titans, and if Teen Titans wins the poll, I'll put up another one asking which story you'd like me to write.

Alice: Here they are:

 **1\. When the titans face Warp, he accidentally brings back two people from the past: John and Mary Grayson. The titans don't know how to send them back to their proper time and allow the two to stay in Titans Tower until they figure it out.**

Basically Robin's parents accidentally time travel as a result of Warp, and the titans let them stay at the tower until Warp is found. Robin tries to act calm and mature in the situation, but it still hurts him to see his parents alive and well but unable to recognize him. There will be hints at RobRae in this story but for the most part there is no pairing, and it has major Robin angst.

 **2\. High School AU. Raven is known as the girl with no friends, and she is content with that. One day she accidentally injures the most popular boy in school, Robin, and he ends up taking an interest in her. Now he follows her around in attempts to date her, and she realizes that maybe she isn't as content with loneliness as she previously thought.**

This story would be a high school AU inspired by the manga "Say I Love you." It would have a ton of RobRae, and it would have a lot of team bonding. The majority of this story would be fluff with hints of angst but not much.

Emily: So vote on the poll, and if Teen Titans wins, I'll start a new poll with these two stories as options for which one I should write next.


	5. X Part 2

Alice: Teen Titans and Victorious ended up tying on the poll, so I'm going to write one of each!

Emily: On my website there's a poll for which Teen Titans story I should write next, so vote for which one you want me to write! It's the same two options from the previous chapter.

Alice: In the meantime, I posted an Avengers story (it's around three to five chapters). Once I finish that story, which should be soon, I'll close the poll and write the winning Teen Titans story.

Emily: In the meantime, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

 **X**

 _Part 2_

The first thing the Titans did when they went inside the building was split up. Normally Robin preferred it when the team stuck together, but there was too much ground for that. It made him uneasy especially considering Cyborg's disappearance. He tried to suppress any self-blame, but it was hard when it was his fault. Raven was right though when she said it would only hinder him, so he tried taking her advice.

It made him smile that she still helped him even when she was determined to avoid him.

Maybe there was still hope for them after all…

 _Are you in love with Raven?_

He sighed and continued looking through the halls, wondering when Red X would pop up. He knew the criminal would attempt to surprise him, but he wasn't sure when. He had to keep himself on guard at all times.

He approached one of the main rooms and walked in. He frowned at the strange set up. Below him, the floor structure changed the black marble. Or what appeared to be black marble. Above it, there was a strange beam with a large gun on top. It was supposed to be a trap for anyone who walked in. Robin snorted, wondering who would fall for something like that only to feel a hand on his back. Gasping, he tried to regain balance but it was too late. He landed right on the floor.

"Sorry," Red X's tone was not apologetic in the slightest.

Robin growled but he couldn't make a comeback. Instead he had to quickly dodge out of the way when the gun came above him and fired at him. Running as quickly as he could, he tried to outrun the weapon as Red X was laughing at him. Right before he could reach the door, Red X appeared at the doorway. "Thanks kid," he stated before it shut on him, locking Robin out.

"Shit!" Robin cursed, jumping up onto the platform as the weapon followed him. He quickly searched his surroundings before thinking of a plan. From his utility belt, he grabbed his grappling hook. It latched onto the beam holding up the weapon, and Robin felt the familiar sensation of the air hitting his face as he practically flew up. Once he was on the beam, he crawled to the weapon and started to play with the multiple wires, using weapons from his utility belt to help loosen it. As the huge weapon fell to the floor, Robin smirked.

Hoisting up the weapon over his shoulder, he carefully aimed it at the locked door and blasted around it. He dropped the weapon to the ground and narrowed his eyes at Red X, who was staring at the open doorway with the vials of zynothium in his hands. "Dang kid," Red X whistled. "I'm surprised Batman fired you with all those talents you had."

Robin growled, charging at Red X and kicking him in the gut, "Batman didn't fire me," he snarled. "I quit!"

Red X quickly dodged the next hit, and the two continued fighting with all they had. Throughout the fight, Robin attempted to analyze everything this new criminal did. His fighting style was similar to his own hinting at some sort of acrobatic background; however, he relied more on outright attacks, which implied he was not entirely comfortable or talented with that particular skillset. He was trained to fight but not in the same way Robin or his team members was. It was more of a street fight style fighting than anything else. Chances are he was raised in a crime filled neighborhood where he was forced to lean how to fight and steal. That made him a thief, not a criminal master mind.

He avoided another hit, but his dodging was becoming sloppy. Focusing his attention back onto the fight, his attacks became more precise. Red X cursed and tried backing up, "Lighten up, birdie," he sounded amused. "I'm not some big villain threatening your city. I'm just a thief. From what I've seen, titans don't deal with thieves."

As he suspected. "You stole from me," Robin grounded out. "That gives me reason enough to go after you."

Red X shrugged, "Good point. Still I'm not a bad guy once you get to know me. I think you and me could be good friends once we—whoa!"

In the middle of his little monologue, Robin went after him and nearly kicked him. Red X barely avoided the attack. "Play time's over," Red X spat out, and it was the first time he sounded annoyed instead of amused. Red X quickly made a run for the zynothium, and Robin hurriedly chased after him. Just as Red X grabbed the vials, a multitude of men in protective gear walked in. Before Red X could even speak, one of the men pulled out a taser and used it to attack both Red X and Robin.

Both fell to the ground, groaning in pain. Red X, Robin could tell, was knocked out. Judging by his inability to move his legs, Robin guessed this was no normal taser and cursed himself. Seeing that he was still awake, one of the men dropped a phone to the ground with a video on it. "Professor Chang," he glared at the man on the screen.

"Robin!" Professor Chang smiled. "I've realized something today. I'm no longer okay with selling zynothium to the bad guys! I want to be one. So I sent some men to follow you and Red X and steal all the zynothium without even breaking in! Perfect planning, am I right?"

"You won't get away with this," Robin narrowed his eyes. It was a clichéd line, but it was true. He wouldn't allow Professor Chang to steal all of the zynothium.

"But I will." Professor Chang grinned. "If you come after me, then I'll kill your friends!"

The camera view shifted to four tubes, and his friends were frozen inside all of them. He clenched his fists, "Chang…"

"Goodbye Robin!"

The screen went blank.

* * *

"Cities… towns… neighborhoods… lives," Professor Chang grinned to himself, glancing at the trapped titans. So far, only their heads were unfrozen, and their bodies were unable to move. He ensured that the girl with the cap was gagged just in case she used her magic to free them. While many would call that careless, he thought it was brilliant. He wanted to see the looks on their faces when they realized their whole city was about to be destroyed. "Tell me, pretty girl," Professor Chang grinned at Starfire. "Have you ever seen anything ripped apart molecule by molecule? It's a beautiful sight... almost as beautiful as you."

The alien girl's eyes glowed green with anger. "Robin will come." She glared at him. "He will stop you."

"No he won't," Professor Chang beamed. "Because I have you. If he so much as steps in here, you will all be killed! Would he really risk that?"

 _Yes_ , they all thought to themselves. Robin was known to save them even when villains threatened him with their lives. Whenever his friends were in danger, he acted more vicious and more careful than he normally would. It was a dangerous combination, and Professor Chang was about to realize his mistake in threatening his friends.

"Dude, why do you even want to destroy the city?" Beast boy changed the subject. "What's the city ever done to you?"

"I don't know," Professor Chang shrugged. "Why did Slade want to destroy the city? He never gave a reason, and I suspect he never had one. We just like seeing the world burn."

"Slade is dead." Starfire stated. "Do you want to have a fate like his?"

Professor Chang actually seemed surprised by that. "Dead? Did the bird boy go dark and kill him? I never thought the child would do it… then again, I never thought someone like Robin would come to me for zynothium either… He's just full of surprises that one."

"He didn't kill him!" Cyborg interjected but a voice suddenly rang in his head.

 _"I've killed before, Robin. You can't come back from that."_

 _"I've killed too, and I came back from that."_

Robin had outright confessed that to Terra, and he never explained to Cyborg what he meant by that. Shaking his head, Cyborg focused on the situation at hand, "Slade died because he fell into a pit of lava."

"Fascinating," Professor Chang mumbled before turning around and looking at some of the blueprints for the overly big gun fueled by zynothium. Cyborg rolled his eyes and sighed, glancing at his teammates. Raven continually glared at the professor, and Cyborg could tell she was not happy about the gag around her lips.

"We'll get out of here," Cyborg whispered to her.

She turned her head to him with a look that said "I know," and Cyborg smiled. They just had to wait for an opportunity to escape.

* * *

By the time Robin could move his body, he knew he had to hurry. He shakily stood up and walked over to Red X, grabbing him by the foot and literally dragging him to the center of the room. He knew with the press of a button he could trap Red X, but he wanted to do something first. He crouched down in front of the unconscious boy and grabbed the corner of his mask.

When he ripped it off, he didn't know what he was expecting.

The person who stole the uniform was definitely older than Robin but not by much. Five years older at the most perhaps. He had dark, ruffled hair with tan skin. He almost looked like Robin himself, but there were still some slight differences. His jawline was more defined, and his eyes weren't as big.

He tried to remember every detail of his face because he would definitely look up the boy once he got back to the tower. Shoving the mask back on his face, he made a grab for the belt that powered the suit when Red X began stirring. Robin quickly sprang up and walked to the podium, which controlled the room. Just as Red X started to push himself off the ground, Robin pressed a button that caused bars to surround the thief.

"Seriously?" Red X groaned.

"A mad man has just stolen all of the zynothium in this room and is about to power it to destroy the city." Robin stated, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Okay."

"Okay? Do you even care? It's your fault this happened!" Robin shouted.

"Don't you mean _our_ fault?" Robin could tell he was smirking under that mask.

"At least I'm going to do something about it," Robin countered, remembering Raven's words about how his guilt made him sloppy. He couldn't afford to pity himself and his past actions now.

"Sorry I don't like playing the hero," the thief shrugged.

"Fine." He bit out, turning towards the exit of the room. "I'll come back soon to arrest you."

He strutted out of the room, knowing fully well Red X would most likely escape. It didn't matter right now though because Professor Chang was the bigger threat.

He'd catch Red X soon enough anyway.

* * *

It was time. Professor Chang sat on the chair of his gun and grinned happily. Raising the weapon to the skyline, he aimed it at the Titans Tower. What would be more symbolic than destroying the home of the Teen Titans? Grinning, he began powering up the gun, ready to start destroying the city when out of nowhere, Robin appeared.

Robin had used his grappling hook to swing over and kick him right out of his chair.

Professor Chang hit the floor of the lab, and Robin was standing over him. "You made a big mistake," he growled.

"Attack!" Professor Chang shouted, and one of his hired men grabbed Robin from behind, throwing him off the professor.

Robin began fighting the majority of his men, and Professor Chang scrambled off the ground and dashed to his weapon. From the sounds in the background, he could clearly hear Robin was winning the majority of the fights. It was no matter though. He just needed to get back onto the chair, and Robin would be helpless to stop him.

"Yes!" He exclaimed in victory once he sat down in his chair again. He whirled the weapon around so it was facing Robin, who just happen to be standing in front of his frozen friends. Robin narrowed his eyes and quickly grabbed another grappling hook from his utility belt. With great speed, Robin was hurled into the air, and Professor Chang quickly followed with the weapon. Unfortunately, Robin was slightly faster, and in his impatience, Professor Chang fired. It barely missed Robin, who was hanging from the ceiling rather helplessly.

He was only thankful the lab was so far away from the city that Professor Chang's misfires wouldn't hurt anyone. Using his body, he began swinging on the grappling hook and leaped onto the ground. Professor Chang followed him, and Robin had to quickly dash away from all of the shots made at him. One came too close, and the ground beneath him collapsed. Gasping, he quickly searched for something to grab onto. His hand somehow found the metal railing, which had been broken due to the blast. He hung from that spot, trying not to look down. Judging by the way the broken railing was shaking, he didn't have long before it collapsed. At this height, he would definitely die if he fell.

And he refused to die like his parents did.

Professor Chang laughed maniacally. "Now who should I kill first? You, or your friends?" He moved the weapon down to where his friends were frozen and trapped. Robin narrowed his eyes, trying to think of how to save them when Professor Chang screamed.

The metal railing snapped, and Robin found himself plummeting to the ground.

Images flashed through his mind. Of his parents. Of his mother's horrified expression before she began to slowly fall. How his name was the last thing she said before hitting the ground. The sound… the terrible sound of their bodies hitting the floor. How disfigured they were...

Suddenly a hand grabbed his arm and hurled him to the platform above. He wasn't falling anymore and he gasped in relief. He turned to see Red X standing before him. He knew he must have looked pale, but Robin smirked anyway, "I thought you didn't like playing the hero," he said, trying to mask his furiously beating heart and outright fear that he could have died by falling.

"Doesn't mean I don't know how," Red X commented. He held out his hand, and Robin took it without question. Together they stood up and glared at Professor Chang, who was looking panicked. Robin already took out all of his men beforehand, and he only had the weapon as a defense. Judging by how he tried pressing the buttons, Red X's weapons had destroyed the weapons controls. From the corner of his eye, he noticed how the rest of the titans were unfreezing at a fast rate. The controls for that must have been on the weapon as well.

"No… no!" Professor Chang screamed.

"I think we just saved the day, bird boy." Red X said jokingly, and together the two of them leaped onto the control panel for the weapon. Right before they landed, Robin quickly grabbed the back of the belt. It instantly came undone at the front, and he quickly tucked it under his arm, hoping Red X wouldn't notice until it was too late. Both landed right in front of Professor Chang, who was nervously sweating.

Robin kicked Professor Chang out of the chair. He quickly handcuffed the professor just as Red X leaped a couple feet away from him. He was closer to an exit (well more like a giant hole in the building due to Professor Chang's lack of aim when he tried to shoot Robin). "Time to get what I came for."

"No chance." Raven stated, flying right beside Robin along with the rest of the unfrozen Teen Titans. In her hands there was a strange cloth, and Robin would have to ask her later what it was. Well, if she bothered speaking to him.

"Sorry X," Robin smirked. "Just because you helped us doesn't mean you get whatever you want."

"It doesn't matter," Red X cockily said, holding up a single vial of zynothium. "As long as I have this, the suit will be fueled for a long time."

"And how exactly are you going to power it without this?" Robin asked, holding up the belt in his hand.

The team's expressions were hilarious. Each one looked incredibly shocked, and even Red X appeared surprised. He looked down, just noticing he was missing an important element of his suit. "Not bad kid," he actually sounded impressed. He quickly turned around and jumped out of the building, disappearing into the night.

"Are you just going to let him go?" Cyborg questioned.

Robin shook his head. "Without the belt, he's just another thief. We don't go after thieves."

Raven narrowed her eyes. "You know something, don't you?"

Robin lazily grinned at her. "Maybe… I'll let you guys know if it's an actual lead or not."

"You're so frustrating when you do that," Raven mumbled under her breath.

"Do what?"

"The 'cocky smirk, I know something you don't know' thing." Raven retorted as the team began walking back to the tower.

"I don't do that!"

"Yeah," Beast boy cut in, laughing. "You do that all the time!"

"It's really annoying," Cyborg chipped in.

"I think it's funny!" Starfire giggled. "It makes you very mysterious, friend Robin!"

The team continued to tease Robin on the way home. Beast boy and Cyborg even went as far as doing impressions of the 'cocky smirk' making even Raven chuckle every once and a while. Robin continued to deny it, but his smile revealed he thought it was funny. By the time the team made it back to the tower, they were relaxed, something that hadn't happened since the Red X suit made a second appearance in their lives.

"Let's do a movie night!" Beast boy exclaimed when they walked into the lounge. "I'm all for seeing another stupid horror movie!"

"Cause that worked out so well last time," Raven rolled her eyes, and Beast boy blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh yeah… bad romantic comedy then?"

"What's that?"

The team frowned and turned to Cyborg, who was pointing at a package on the kitchen table. The team slowly walked over to it. Without a stamp or a return address, they had no idea who it was from. "Be careful," Beast boy tried to joke, "I don't want to turn into a puppet again."

Robin snorted and pulled the package towards him. The team watched from behind as he slowly started opening it to reveal a sturdy box. Their leader lifted the top off and immediately dropped it. His entire body stiffened, and the team tried to look over his shoulder at what was inside. "That's impossible," Robin breathed out.

Once the team managed to see what was inside, they froze as well.

Slade's entire outfit was inside with his cracked mask on top. That was impossible. When he died, he melted into a pit of lava. There was nothing left of his to send. It was all gone just like the man himself. Even if he had a spare uniform, his entire lair had gone down in the lava. There should have been nothing left.

"How… Terra took him down," Beast boy was trembling. "Does that mean he's still alive?"

"We saw him die," Raven countered. "He couldn't have come back from that. No one can!"

"Then someone else is behind this," Cyborg concluded.

"But how would they have gotten Slade's… everything?" Starfire asked, staring worriedly at Robin, who hadn't said a word so far.

"We need to investigate this." Cyborg stated. "We have to—"

"I'm going to put this in the basement with all of the other pieces of evidence." Robin stated.

Cyborg frowned, "But—"

"We need more evidence before we start coming up with theories," Robin crouched down and grabbed the lid of the box. "Storage is the safest place to put this just in case someone's watching from the other side."

He placed the lid on top and turned to the team. They instantly knew not to question him least he snaps at them. Robin had always been obsessed with Slade, and they thought he was gone. If he somehow managed to survive, Robin's obsession might take an even scarier form. He stiffly walked out of the room with the box in his hands, and no one dared to follow him.

Except for Raven, who didn't even realize it until they were out of the lounge and in the dark hallway.

"Following me again?" He asked.

"I'm worried."

"Me too."

"I'm worried about you." Raven clarified, frowning at him as they walked down the steps to the basement.

Robin sighed. "I thought it was over…"

"It is." Raven frowned. "He couldn't have survived. It's impossible."

"It's Slade."

"And as far as we know, Slade is human," Raven insisted. "He's not back. Someone is trying to mess with us, and it's working. We can't let whoever did this get to us."

Robin sighed, placing the box among the hundreds of others. He slowly turned to her and nodded. "You're right."

"I know. Now come on. I think we should discuss this with the team."

Robin nodded, and together they walked up the steps. They didn't speak, but they didn't need to. Both were lost in their own thoughts, wondering who sent that box. Was it Slade? Was he back? If not, who knew Slade well enough to send an extra uniform just to scare the titans? Was it really Slade's uniform or just a fake made to scare them?

All they knew was that they needed to be especially careful from now on.

* * *

Alice: Thanks for reading! Betrothed is next.

Emily: There's going to be a lot of RobRae and a lot of RaeStar friendship.

Alice: Basically the next chapter will be all about how Starfire ships RobRae like crazy and really wants them to get together.

Emily: It will also explore more of Starfire's feelings for Robin and how they've developed since he rejected her.

Alice: I'll try to make Betrothed one chapter, but it might be two.

Emily: And foreshadowing for Haunted! I never knew how they got the uniform when Slade literally melted, so I figured I'd add that in there. Anyways, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

Alice: Don't forget to vote on the poll for which Teen Titan story I should write next! I added a third option that I didn't have before.


	6. Betrothed Part 1

Alice: New chapter!

Emily: There is going to be a lot of RobRae and a lot of StarRae friendship!

Alice: School just started, so I won't be able to update as often, but I figured I would be able to make the chapters longer.

Emily: My goal is to make the majority of the episodes one chapter instead of two. That way my updates won't be too short.

Alice: Anyways, here's the next chapter!

* * *

 **Betrothed**

 _Part 1_

Beast boy sighed tiredly as he walked back to his room. He rubbed his neck, feeling a cramp forming due to the rocks he leaned on for too long. His visits to Terra were becoming rare, and it scared him that he might forget about her. Logically he knew that wasn't possible, but emotionally was a different story. Sighing again, he nearly missed Starfire flying with a huge pile of her stuff in her hands. He frowned at her, "Starfire?"

"Beast boy!" She gasped in surprise, almost dropping her boots. "I'm sorry! I did not see you there."

"Yeah…" Beast boy frowned at her. "What's going on? Going somewhere?"

Starfire nodded, a sad expression overcoming her face. "I just received news from my home planet an hour ago. I am told I must come back home."

Beast boy gaped. "Home? Why?"

Starfire flushed. "I am… getting married."

"WHAT?!"

* * *

"WHAT?!"

Starfire flushed as the entire team stared at her with shocked expressions. Beast boy insisted that she tell the team immediately, and Starfire reluctantly agreed. She wanted to hold off on telling her friends for as long as possible, but she knew that was unfair to her friends. "Aren't you a little young for marriage?" Robin asked.

"Yes," Starfire nodded. "On my home planet, the age for marriage is around the same as on earth, but I am told this is of great importance, and I must be wed immediately. I cannot come back although I will try to visit."

"So that's it?" Raven frowned. "You're just leaving like that?"

"Yes…"

"Can't we come with?" Cyborg practically pleaded. "To the wedding?"

Starfire gasped, a bright smile coming onto her face. "You can!" She smiled happily. "I almost forgot the bride can do whatever she pleases! I can invite all of you to the wedding!"

"Great," Robin smiled, and the whole team perked up. All of them were thinking along the same lines: maybe they could stop the wedding if they went there. "When should we leave?"

"An hour."

The titans practically ran to their respective rooms to pack.

* * *

Saying the ride to Starfire's homeplanet was awkward would have been a vast understatement. No one knew exactly what to say, and the idea of losing their teammate to something as silly as marriage never came to them before. Beforehand it was death or injury, never domestic issues.

Of course, it was Starfire who broke the awkward silence. She grinned brightly and practically shouted, "I cannot wait for you to see Tamaran! I wonder what we should do first? We should—"

She then proceeded to rant about the multiple beings and foods on Tamaran and how she would show her friends her culture. "Girl, you're getting married!" Cyborg interrupted. "Can we talk about that for a bit? How do the weddings work? What do you guys do? Is there a maid of honor? Who are you even getting married to?"

Starfire flushed before playing with her fingers. "Well…" she mumbled. "I don't really know."

Robin frowned. "Don't know how weddings work?"

"Don't know who I am getting married to…"

There was a three second pause before everyone on the ship exclaimed, "WHAT?!"

"An arranged marriage?" Robin's jaw dropped. "You do that on Tamaran?"

"It is quite common actually," she confessed. "I always expected to marry someone my parents picked out for me since I was a child. I just thought I would be a few years older, but the grand ruler of Tamaran insists I marry now."

Robin frowned, about to ask why the grand ruler would dictate who Starfire would marry, but Beast boy beat him to it. "So wait… if you knew you would be in an arranged marriage, why did you get a crush on Robin?"

That caused Starfire and Robin to blush heavily. While it was widely known Starfire had a crush on Robin, it was something the team never talked about when they were together. One on one, yes they would discuss Starfire's crush on Robin, but never while Robin and Starfire were in front of each other! "I could not help how I felt," she mumbled, embarrassed to be discussing this in front of Robin. "Besides, due to the encouragement that Robin returned my feelings—"

"Wait you guys encouraged that?" Robin interrupted, gaping at the screen that showed his teammates. "I knew you guys knew… but you encouraged it? Really?"

"Well yeah man," Cyborg shrugged, remembering how he thought they would get together. That was before he learned of Raven's feelings for Robin, and it was before he realized Robin felt nothing for the redheaded alien. "It seemed kind of obvious at the time."

"I definitely thought so too," Beast boy chipped in, also recalling how much he supported the couple until he realized Raven loved Robin.

"We all thought it would happen." Raven claimed with a monotone.

Robin raised his eyebrows at the last comment. "You too?"

"Yep."

"You thought I had feelings for Starfire?" Robin clarified. "You?"

Raven narrowed her eyes. "Why wouldn't I have?"

"Because I'm an emotional wreck and you can sense it every time? Wouldn't you know if I had deep romantic feelings for Starfire?" Robin snipped back. The rest of the team rolled their eyes, knowing a fight was about to break between them. Again.

"I can sense negative emotions," she clarified angrily, "because they're more obvious and overwhelming. I'm not snooping through your every emotion."

Before Robin could retort, Cyborg quickly asked, "So Starfire, what were you about to say?"

Starfire blushed but continued. She'd rather talk about something embarrassing than have her friends fight again. "Well," she said nervously, "I thought Robin returned my feelings, and I thought we would eventually court each other. I thought my parents would be fine with that since Robin is an important person on Earth, but he never returned my feelings so it doesn't matter."

Robin blinked. "Wait, so if we got married, you'd be able to stay on earth?"

"Perhaps…"

"Let's just get married then!" He exclaimed. "A green card marriage!"

Starfire blinked, blushing heavily at the proposal. "A what?"

"It's… well it's hard to explain. But why can't you just marry me and stay with us?" Robin asked, a huge grin coming to his face.

"Because it's too late for that," Starfire reminded him. "I am already engaged, and it is necessary that I marry him."

The grin vanished. "Oh," he mumbled. "Never mind then."

It became silent again. None of the teammates knew what to say after the "marriage proposal," and they didn't know how to convey their current emotions into words.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, the back of their ship was hit, interrupting the awkward silence.

Each titan gasped and immediately went into action. "They have us outnumbered ten to one," Raven informed the team.

"Not for long. Titans, separate!" Robin shouted, and instantly the ship divided into five different parts. Each titan flew their part of the ship towards the green alien spaceships, and they began their individual attacks.

Cyborg instantly began firing at the aliens while trying to ensure they would crash onto the surrounding asteroids. They easily fell for his misdirection, and Cyborg smirked in response. He glanced at the screen in front of him that showed the other titan's locations along with the enemies. From what it looked like, the titans were winning. He smiled, and noticed that the majority of the aliens began retreating. "Titans," Robin's sharp voice filled his ship, "back together. They're retreating."

Cyborg sighed and began flying his ship back towards the rest of the titans, where they attacked together into one. "Who were those guys?" Robin mumbled to himself. No one knew the answer, so no one spoke up.

Not until Beast boy asked, "Where are we?"

He said that in reference to a white and purple planet that looked almost surreal to the titan's eyes. Starfire smiled softly, "Tamaran… my home."

* * *

When they shakily landed their ship onto the castle's platform, they didn't know what to expect. Starfire rushed out of the ship with a bright smile, and the team slowly followed. She quickly flew to the front doors where multiple guards walked out. A large man walked with them. Like Starfire, he had long red hair and wore purple. He narrowed his eyes at Starfire and began shouting at her in a different language. Starfire's eyes glowed green as she flew up and began screaming back.

The large man held out his hands as he shouted, and Starfire reacted with a scream.

"Titans!" Robin shouted. "G—uh…"

The large man began tickling Starfire! She squealed with happiness and hugged him tightly. "Galfore!" she smiled happily. "I've missed you!" Turning to her friends, she introduced, "My friends this is Galfore! He raised me from the time I was very small."

By the way she phrased it, the titans deduced that this man was not her father. Beast boy snorted, "So this guy is your nanny?"

Galfore narrowed his eyes. "Is there something wrong with that, little one?"

Immediately the smile was wiped off of Beast boy's face and he sheepishly grinned, "No! Not at all!"

Galfore smirked in amusement before his noticed the state of their ship. Anyone could tell they had been attacked, and Galfore sighed in resignation. "I see you have met our new enemies."

Robin frowned. "You know them?"

"They are the great Drenthax army. They invaded us and threaten to overthrow our way of life," Galfore said sadly before his face tightened in anger. "If I were grand ruler, I would fight! I would fight for our planet and try to defend us but… but I am not. Oh Koriand'r, much has changed since you were last here."

Starfire's eyes softened, and she whispered, "I heard of what happened although I did not believe it at first. There is a new grand ruler now, yes?"

Galfore nodded. "There is, but we are very happy to have you back Princess Koriand'r."

Suddenly Galfore bowed before Starfire along with all the guards who came with him. The titans took in the scene, and their jaws dropped. All of them had a shocked expression, and it must have looked idiotic to the people around them. "Princess?" Raven choked out. "You're a princess?"

There was a time Raven thought Starfire had everything. At the time, she believed Robin loved her, and it was obvious that Starfire was beautiful. She had full range of her emotions, and she was the most expressive, friendliest, happiest person Raven had ever met. She remembered how she enviously thought Starfire was better than her in every way.

Thank goodness she didn't learn Starfire was a freakin' princess during that time! It would have definitely pushed Raven over the edge.

Starfire blushed at the awed looks her friends were giving her. "Ah yes, I am in second line for the throne… perhaps I forgot to mention that?" Judging by her questioning, light tone, she purposefully left that out. Before the titans could ask why she hid that from them, Galfore gestured for her to start walking. Smiling at her friends, she began to walk into the palace with the guards following behind her.

"Um… did anyone know she was a princess?" Cyborg dumbly asked.

"No," Robin blinked.

"Of freakin' course she is," Raven mumbled under her breath.

Robin turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "Are you—"

"Oh please for the love of God!" Beast boy exclaimed, glaring at the two of them. "Do not talk to her! And don't talk to him! Our best friend is getting married, and we can't have you two at each other's throats the entire time!"

"But—" Robin began.

"No but's!" Beast boy interrupted. "Just don't talk to each other! At all! Understand?"

Raven and Robin glanced at each other. When their eye's met, they instantly began glaring at each other. "Fine," they said at the same time through gritted teeth.

"Good." Beast boy smiled proudly before he started following the guards.

Cyborg quickly caught up to him. "Nice job, BB."

Beast boy sighed, "Someone had to do it."

"They'll get over their little… whatever it is."

"I hope so..."

* * *

Apparently it was custom to throw a large dinner party for the bride before the groom was introduced. That was how all of the titans ended up sitting at a giant table with giant cups in front of them. Robin took one look at his cup and sighed. There was no way he could pick that up.

The banquet mostly had older Tamaran members, and Robin guessed they were nobles. From their outward appearance, they seemed rather snobby. Robin knew how to deal with those types of people (after all, he had to go to multiple banquets as Bruce Wayne's ward), but he wasn't sure if his methods would be proper for Tamaran like they were in earth. Instead he decided to focus on Starfire, who seemed rather dazed by the whole ordeal. "Starfire," he whispered to her. "What's going on exactly?"

"It's just a normal banquet," she whispered back. "It is in my honor, and it is a celebration of my status as a bride."

Robin frowned. "About that… Starfire, do you—"

"What are you two whispering about?" One of the elderly men condescendingly asked.

Robin blinked, sitting up straight. He put on his most polite smile and started, "I was merely asking about the culture of Tamaran. I did not want—"

"Do you think we are so foolish?" Another man cut in, glaring at Robin. "Do not think we haven't noticed you glancing at her all throughout the evening."

"Of course I was," Robin tried to remain polite. "She is about to get married, and this will be the last time I see her. I just—"

"You desire her, don't you?" A woman of the court giggled although it was obvious she did not approve.

"I… what?" He had no idea how to respond to that. Why did everyone seem to think he wanted Starfire? Firs the Titans now the royals of Tamaran! He didn't want Starfire! He wanted—

"He does not!" Starfire cut in. "He has no desire for me at all."

The first man who spoke smiled, "Princess," he said respectively, "you do not know the minds of men like we do. He most likely wishes to bed and marry you. We are just looking out for your wellbeing!"

Robin flushed red at the "bed" part of the statement. Starfire sighed, as though she was used to this type of talk. "I know he does not desire me because I confessed feelings of love towards him," she blushed. "He rejected me."

The court members all seemed shocked. Some even gaped at Robin as though he were some kind of idiot. He glared back at anyone who gave him that look. A woman cleared her throat, "Clearly she is lying to save her friend his dignity. My dear princess, no one would ever reject you. You are far too beautiful! I believe we should have this Robin boy exiled for attempting to seduce the bride."

The courtroom nodded in agreement. Starfire gulped, her eyes glancing around the room in a panic until they landed on Raven, who was watching the conversation with a mixture of surprise and annoyance. An idea came to her head, and she inwardly hoped Robin and Raven's fighting wouldn't ruin this. "The reason he rejected me is because he was courting another," Starfire lied. "Robin is in a secret relationship with my teammate and good friend Raven."

Robin gaped. "What?!"

Raven flushed. "Excuse me?"

Starfire apologetically smiled. "I am sorry I had to reveal your secret, my friends, but I did not want Robin to be exiled over a misunderstanding."

Cyborg and Beast boy were trying their best not to laugh, and Robin and Raven just stared at their friend in horror and embarrassment.

"I see," another woman smiled. "The only reason a man would reject you, princess, is if they had another! We are sorry for the misunderstanding!"

Robin numbly nodded his head, trying hard not to turn and glare at Starfire. What was she thinking? Why would she do that? Starfire turned to him and smiled innocently making him forget why he was angry in the first place. Instead he remembered why they were here. He needed to stop this wedding, and he couldn't if he was exiled. So he smiled, "That's right," he tried not to sound forced. "Raven and I are dating."

Raven's head whipped around, and she gave him an intense look. "Robin," she warned.

"It's out now," he shrugged, trying to seem casual. "We might as well stop pretending."

He gave her a look, and she sighed, forcing a smile at the table. "That's right," she said emotionlessly. "We're in love."

Robin nodded his head, smiling brightly at the court, who seemed to be buying it. They thought that Robin and Raven were in love! Robin sighed.

 _Yeah, if only…_

* * *

Alice: Thanks for reading!

Emily: This chapter is going to have a ton of RaeStar friendship! As you can tell with Starfire's oh-so-subtle way of trying to get them to hook up!

Alice: Like I said in my previous "With You" stories, I don't like the whole "let's antagonize Starfire and have her be terrible to Robin and Raven when they like each other." It seems so OOC and just un-Starfire.

Emily: In this story, I'm trying to convey that while she's hurting and wants to be with Robin, she still respects her friendship with Raven and would never let Robin get in the way.

Alice: Yeah there will be more bonding in part 2.

Emily: Anyways, what did you guys think?

Alice: My goal is to publish the next chapter by the 16th. School started so chapters will be up every two weeks instead of every week. Sorry about that. I'll try to update as often as I can!

Emily: Anyways, happy Labor Day! Good luck to everyone starting school!


	7. Betrothed Part 2

Alice: I'm so excited!

Emily: Haunted is coming up soon! I have been dying to write that episode since I started this story!

Alice: I'm sure you can all guess what happens in Haunted (hint, the summary gives it away!).

Emily: In the meantime, here's the next part of Betrothed!

Alice: Just letting you guys know, once I finish the Haunted episode, I'm going to post the real winner of the Teen Titans story poll.

Emily: So just look out for that!

Alice: Anyway, here's the rest!

* * *

 **Betrothed**

 _Part 2_

When the feast ended, loud music began playing. Almost everyone in the room stood up and started walking to the throne room where the music continued. It was time for the groom and the bride to be introduced to each other, and the titans waited anxiously behind Starfire, who was a couple steps in front of them. Galfore stood up and shouted, "All hail the grand ruler of Tamaran! Empress Komand'r!"

The titans frowned in confusion when Starfire gasped in shock. Suddenly Blackfire walked into the room with a crown on her head and a smirk on her lips. Raven narrowed her eyes at the sight of the woman. While she was already aware Blackfire escaped from prison, she did not think the girl would be so daring as to go back to her homeland. "Blackfire!" Starfire glared accusingly at her sister.

"Starfire," her sister grinned. "You seem surprised?"

"I am surprised you are out of prison!"

Yeah, Raven should have probably told her about that…

"Well since you put me in jail," she growled the last part out, "I got really bored really quickly. I decided to escape, and I ended up back at Tamaran. Turns out I'm the heir, so they legally had to give me the crown."

"Not if you are jailed again," she stated in a warning voice, but Blackfire merely rolled her eyes.

"If I'm jailed, how will Tamaran defend themselves? You saw the army parked right outside of the palace!"

Starfire flinched at that statement. While she grew up an honored princess, she never received proper training for becoming queen. That all went to Blackfire, who everyone suspected would be the ruler once their parents died. She had no idea how to fight in a war although she suspected one person in court did.

She stole a glance at Galfore. He raised both Blackfire and Starfire, which meant he was forced to go to the lessons on being a ruler in order to watch Blackfire in them. He had the same experience as Blackfire and could be the ruler… only if the crown was given to him. She highly doubted Blackfire would simply give that away, and she doubted their people would take it well if their empress was imprisoned during her rule. Not unless she fell out of favor with the people, but how? The royal family as always loved including Blackfire.

She had to think…

"Want to meet your new groom?" Blackfire smiled cruelly.

Starfire frowned but nodded.

Suddenly a beautiful man walked out, and Starfire's jaw dropped. He was shirtless, and it revealed his muscular body. His face was beautiful and had no flaw. He smiled, and Starfire could feel a blush coming to her face.

Even Raven was blushing a bit.

Robin noticed Raven's expression and leaned in, whispering, "Hey, mind if I dump you for him?"

She snorted at the statement, and Robin grinned. She glanced at him, and the two shared a moment of simply looking at each other. Both of their expressions held amusement.

Until the man stepped off stage to reveal a giant green mushy… thing. Robin wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't look comforting. It reminded him of Star Wars actually. "Starfire," Blackfire beamed. "Meet Glgrdsklechhh, your soon to be husband!"

Beast boy blinked. "You can't be serious!"

Everyone turned to him, and he blushed in result.

"Glgrdsklechhh happens to be the king and in control of the army parked outside of our palace!" Blackfire snapped. "In order to ensure they don't wipe us all out, Starfire must marry him."

Starfire flinched and glanced at the green glob. "It's nice to meet you," she bowed slightly. "My name is Starfire."

The thing let out a large burping sound, and Blackfire grinned. "He says he's pleased to meet you."

Robin frowned, about to say something, but Raven quickly grabbed his arm as a reminder of his situation. They nearly exiled him once for talking to Starfire. How would the court react if he outright objected to the marriage? Robin sucked in a deep breath and forced a smile at his friend.

Blackfire noticed the action and frowned. "Take the princess to her chambers so she can prepare for the wedding," Blackfire announced. "The wedding will take place at moon set!"

Starfire took one last glance at her friends, who were all sympathetically staring at her. This wasn't how she wanted them to remember her, so she faked a bright smile at them before she walked away.

Blackfire smiled. "You may show her friends to their rooms as well, but keep an eye on them."

The titans were lead off, but Raven remained to spare on lingering look at Blackfire. "I know what you did for Starfire," Raven stated, surprising the titans. "Why are you behaving like this?"

Blackfire didn't bother responding, and the titans were lead out of the room.

* * *

"Here is your room," the guard announced.

"Cool," Beast boy grinned.

The guard frowned. "Not your room. Robin and Raven's room. Since they are courting, we decided to give them the privacy every couple deserves."

Once again, Cyborg and Beast boy had to hold back a snicker as Robin and Raven's faces turned bright red. While both of them wanted to argue that they didn't want to share a room, they knew the potential consequences of what would happen if they rejected it. So they both smiled and thanked the guard before walking into the room. The doors shut behind them, and they slowly stepped away from each other. Looking around the room, they frowned when they realized…

"There's only one bed," Robin stupidly pointed out.

Raven blushed. "We are not sharing it."

"That implies we're getting any sleep tonight, and we're definitely not."

Raven whipped around. "Excuse me?" She exclaimed.

Robin frowned but proceeded to flush when he realized what his words implied. "Not like that!" He took a step back. "I mean we're going to stop the wedding!"

"Oh… right." Raven took a deep breath in, trying to hide her blush. Of course Robin wouldn't have meant it like that! She was foolish for thinking he could be so crude. Shaking her head, she forced herself to think of the situation. "How do you plan on stopping it?"

"It's too convenient," he began explaining. "Blackfire takes the throne and an alien army just happens to invade? And the leader of said army wants to marry Starfire over Blackfire? And the leader is an ugly thing that would never make Starfire happy? It seems way too perfect to be a coincidence. I think Blackfire planned this."

Raven nodded in agreement. "How do we prove that?"

"You'll spy on Blackfire, and I'll talk to Starfire," Robin declared. "We might be able to stop this wedding if—"

"No."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "No?"

Raven rolled her eyes. Men! They were so stupid sometimes. "Think about it," she gave him a look. Judging by his confused expression, he had no idea what she was talking about. "Robin, Starfire's in love with you! She knows you don't love her back, and it's hurting her. How do you think she's going to feel when the love of her life sneaks into her room to talk her down from getting married in a totally platonic, nonromantic way? It's going to be a slap in the face because it's every romantic movie scene just without the actual romance."

Robin blushed at her reasoning. "Then what are we going to do?"

"I'm going to talk to her," Raven clarified. "You're going to spy on Blackfire."

"Okay that sounds… okay."

"Okay." Raven nodded her head.

Just before she was about to leave, Robin interrupted, "Raven?"

She frowned. "What?"

"Why are you avoiding me?"

Raven clenched her fists. "Robin," she hissed out. "Now is not the time."

"When will it be time then?" he harshly asked. "I'm stick and tired of being avoided! Since we're stuck in the same room together, I might as well try and ask! The wedding won't start for a couple hours, so we have plenty of time."

"I'm not avoiding you," she said through gritted teeth.

He crossed his arms, not budging. "We both know you're lying, so you might as well admit it. Is it because of the prom date? Was it something I said? Did I make you uncomfortable or something?"

 _Did you figure out that I'm in love with you?_

"Dammit Robin! Just drop it!" Raven shouted, and Robin flinched, prepared for something in the room to break. When no explosion happened, Robin let out a sigh of relief.

"Why?" He glared at her, raising his voice. "Why should I drop it? Raven, you were my best friend! I've shared things about myself with you that I wouldn't dare talk about with anyone else on this team! It hurts that you're avoiding me! The fact that I don't know why you're doing it is driving me insane! Just tell me!"

"Your best friend?" Raven scoffed. "You're being overdramatic. We weren't best friends."

"Yes, we were!"

"You're making our relationship seem like it was more than it was!"

"So you're saying I just imagined all those times I went to you for help? Raven, I cried on your shoulder! I was a total mess, and you were there for me! Last time I checked, I haven't cried in front of anyone else on this team. Are you saying that never happened?"

She flinched, remembering the day he was talking about. He just came back from some game show where he had an "episode," and he was extremely distraught. He had given her a look, and she knew it meant that she needed to follow him. When they were alone, he instantly broke down, and she wrapped her arms around him and held him. She didn't know what happened, and Robin was so distressed he couldn't properly describe the situation. She didn't need to know at the time though. She just needed to help him. "I'm not saying that never happened," she whispered. "I'm just saying you put more thought into it than you needed to. I can sense your emotions, so it's only natural you would go to me for help. The rest of the team don't know how to handle those types of situations."

Robin froze, staring at her as though she just committed a terrible crime. "So you're saying you've only thought of me as a teammate? And that's it?"

Raven gulped, hugging her body. His body was stilled, and she sensed there was a second meaning to the question, but she didn't know what it could be. Part of her wanted to give up the act and stop ignoring him. Still, she knew what that would bring. It would just hurt more when she caused the world's end, and she couldn't handle that. "Yes," she answered hoarsely.

Robin's expression didn't change. "Alright then," he answered. There was no emotion in his tone. "I'm sorry I bothered you."

A tense silence followed his words, and Raven felt like she was suffocating in it. This was going too far. What if she was pushing him to his breaking point? What if this resulted in another freak out of his? What if he loved her like she loved him?

No, that was impossible.

Still, she may have gone too far in ignoring him. While she wanted to save him from the pain of her betrayal later on, what purpose would that achieve if she was just hurting him now? She was about to open her mouth and take it all back, tell him she didn't mean it and make up some dumb excuse as to why she's been behaving like this.

But it was like fate wanted her to stay away from him because the door to their room slammed open.

Both whipped around and saw Beasty boy and Cyborg standing at the door. Beast boy was in front of his other teammate, staring at them with disbelief. "Guys, again! We could hear you from our room! What did I tell you guys about talking to each other? Don't! I wouldn't be surprised if the whole castle heard you!"

Cyborg frowned, taking in their distraught expressions. "You guys okay?"

Robin didn't even look at her. "Yeah. It was all just a misunderstanding. We won't fight anymore."

Raven flinched, and the two other teammates frowned at the scenario before them. "Okay," Cyborg spoke. "But—"

"We don't have time for this," Robin harshly snapped at him. "We need to stop Starfire's wedding. I have a plan."

"O-okay," Beast boy answered hesitantly. "What is it?"

* * *

Cyborg and Beast boy snuck into one of the alien ships. It was alarming how easy it was to break in, but they supposed their technology wasn't as advanced as they originally thought. After walking through the ship, they noticed something rather odd. There were no soldiers in the ship. It was like the entire thing was empty!

"So what do you think happened between them?" Beast boy blurted out.

Cyborg turned to him, "Be quiet! We don't want to let them know we're here!"

"There's no one here," Beast boy pointed out. "So we might as well talk about it. What do you think happened?"

The fact that no soldiers were rushing to their location due to Beast boy's voice only proved his reasoning. Cyborg sighed, "I don't know. Probably about something stupid again."

"Robin looked upset."

"So did Raven. That's what happens when you have a fight. You get upset."

"I don't know," Beast boy mumbled. "It seemed different this time. They didn't seem angry like the other times. They were just sad."

Cyborg nodded. "Do you think Robin loves Raven?"

Beast boy shrugged. "I don't know. For the longest time, I thought he was in love with Starfire, but he wasn't. I thought he was happy, but he wasn't. I can't really tell what goes on in his head, and it's frustrating. I just know Raven's in love with him, so I want him to love her back. Why?"

"I asked him if he was," he confessed. "During the whole situation with Terra… and after I was undercover. He never answered."

"Does that mean you think he's in love? Because he never denied it?"

"He didn't react either," he pointed out. "He didn't blush or stammer or seem surprised. He just looked at me. It was weird."

"So you're basically telling me that even though we're rooting for Robin and Raven to get together, it might not happen?" Beast boy frowned.

"I have no idea with those two," Cyborg shook his head before he slowed down. "We're getting close to the control room and nothing's happened."

It was true, Beast boy noticed. In front of them, they could see the control room, but no guards. Together they slowly walked up to the ship but there was no crew there. Cyborg gasped in realization. "There's no army… The ships are a set up!"

"Uh… Cyborg?"

Cyborg turned around to see multiple guards holding spears at them. Narrowing his eyes at them, Cyborg slowly raised his hands in surrender.

* * *

Robin easily snuck into Blackfire's room. All it took was a small distraction, and the guards standing in front of the door quickly left their post allowing Robin to walk inside. When he walked in, he expected something much more sinister, but it looked like a normal girl's room. Well, as normal as it could be for an alien queen. Walking to one of the desks, he narrowed his eyes at a very important looking jewelry case. He slowly opened it, which resulted in red light flashing. He quickly closed it and frowned when he heard approaching footsteps.

He quickly hid.

"Yes my plan was brilliant!" Blackfire bragged to the green glop thing. They slowly approached the same jewelry case Robin was inspecting. "I give you my pesky little sister, and you give me the Jewel of Charta. With it's power, I can rule Tamaran with an iron fist!"

Robin narrowed his eyes at the two. Just as he was about to sneak away, the green _thing_ turned to him and suddenly spat green goop at him. Robin gasped as he was stuck to the wall. Blackfire blinked and turned towards him only to smirk when she realized who was spying on him. "Guards!" She called out. "Quick! There's an intruder!"

Today was just not his day.

* * *

Raven couldn't help but admire the beauty of the castle as she flew along the walls. Tamaran was truly beautiful, and she could see why Starfire took suck pride in her home planet. As she neared the balcony, she wondered how exactly she was going to talk Starfire out of marrying Glercyl… Glursyl… whatever it was. She was incredibly loyal, which meant she would be willing to do anything for her people. As Raven flew above the balcony, she saw Starfire leaning over on the opposite side. How… convenient. "Starfire…" Raven spoke up, and Starfire slowly turned around.

She smiled sadly. "I knew someone would come," she admitted. "It's why I decided to wait out here."

Raven nodded as she lowered her feet onto the balcony. "You know why I'm here then."

"To talk me out of my marriage," she answered easily. "Raven, you know why I cannot do that."

"I know you have a duty to Tamaran, but don't you also have one to yourself? Don't you think you owe it to yourself to be happy?" Raven approached her.

Starfire shrugged. "Maybe I will be happy with him."

"We both know that's not true."

"No. It is not."

Raven's eyes softened. "I need my rival, Starfire."

At that, Starfire snorted in amusement. "Rival? What kind of rival am I, Raven? He's rejected me, and I…"

Raven frowned. "And you?"

Starfire smiled softly, grasping Raven's shoulders and pulling her closer. "I am over Robin."

Raven's eyes widened. "You're… what?"

"I no longer have feelings for him," she offered Raven a bright smile. Well, as bright as it could be under the circumstances. "I realized that when he proposed to me earlier today. I am no longer your rival for that reason as well."

Raven parted her lips, unsure of what to say. For the longest time, Starfire was her main competition. Even after she was rejected, their love for Robin still bonded the two girls together. Now Starfire no longer held those feelings. If she were being honest, Raven thought Starfire would never get over Robin. It was a constant in the Titan's life.

"Even if we're not rivals," she chose her words carefully, "you should still come home."

"I am home, Raven," she whispered.

"We're your home."

Starfire sighed, removing her hands from Raven and walking towards the doors of her room. "Raven, I cannot leave my people behind to suffer while I am free on earth. You will not convince me otherwise. I am sorry."

"But Starfire—"

The redhead turned around and gave her a sad smile. "I must prepare for my wedding. I shall see you at the ceremony."

Raven reluctantly nodded her head. "Goodbye Starfire."

"Goodbye Raven."

* * *

When Robin was thrown into the strange prison cell, he was surprised to see Cyborg and Beast boy there as well. He raised an eyebrow, and the two just innocently smiled back. "I'm guessing you found out the same things I did?"

"That Blackfire and greeny are faking the invasion? Yep."

Robin sighed, rubbing his forehead. "So now we need to stop the wedding."

"Wedding crashers!" Beast boy grinned. "Cool! Can we escape now?"

"You've been waiting to escape?" Robin frowned.

"We figured you'd join us soon… and maybe Raven, but since she hasn't come yet, we might as well escape," Beast boy shrugged. At the strange look he received from Robin, he pouted. "What? We've gotten out of much worse!"

"It's true," Cyborg added.

"Fine," he rolled his eyes. "Let's be wedding crashers."

"Awesome!"

* * *

Raven was surprised when she noticed none of the other titans bothered to show up to the wedding. That could only mean one of two things. Either they got caught and were currently escaping, or they were late. Chances are it was the former. She sighed, hoping those idiots would show up before Starfire kissed whatever-it-was. Could she even kiss it? It didn't have lips… Raven shook her head and focused on the ceremony. Multiple citizens of Tamaran were present, and they watched with joy as their princess walked down the isle with Galfore.

Blackfire was the one leading the ceremony, and Raven was currently standing in the front row. Judging by Blackfire's multiple glances at her, she thought Raven was about to ruin the ceremony. While Raven desperately wanted to make a scene, she knew she couldn't.

Yet…

Starfire looked absolutely miserable when she finally made it to her fiancé's side. Raven pitied her, but she knew the titans wouldn't actually allow for the wedding. It was just a manner of when they bothered showing up with proof of whatever scheme Blackfire was trying to pull.

As Blackfire began speaking, Raven stole multiple glances at the door on the other side of the room. Any minute now…

The ceremony continued, and Blackfire grinned. "Do you accept—"

"STARFIRE!"

The crowd gasped as the doors were thrown open, revealing the rest of the team. Raven rolled her eyes. It was probably Beast boy's idea to be overdramatic like that. Blackfire clenched her fists together, and Robin shouted, "Starfire it's a trick! There is no invasion! Blackfire has been working with Glgrdsklechhh this whole time!"

The crowd gasped loudly, and Starfire clenched her fists. Turning to her sister, Starfire narrowed her eyes. "Is that true?" She didn't need an answer. This was her chance! If this spread, which Starfire knew it would, Blackfire would fall out of favor with the people which meant she could go back to jail. This was the opportunity Starfire has been waiting for!

Ripping off her white dress to reveal her normal clothes, Starfire slowly approached her sister, clenching her fists. "I challenge you for the thrown!" She shouted.

"You'd challenge the grand ruler?!"

"I challenge my siser!"

Blackfire leaped up, and the two sisters started brawling in the middle of the ceremony. Glgrdsklechhh merely sat there, hovering slightly above the ground. Robin didn't know why the thing wasn't helping. Maybe it was incapable of actually fighting? He wasn't sure. Either way he started to run towards the scene, but Cyborg's hand grabbed his shoulder. "She's got this," he smiled proudly.

"Besides," the titans all turned to see Raven beside them, "Blackfire won't seriously hurt her."

Beast boy blinked. "How do you know?"

Raven just shrugged, not bothering to answer the question.

"And anyway," the titans all turned to see Galfore next to them. When did he get there? "If you intervened, the challenge would be void, and Starfire would lose the crown."

"Got it. Don't interfere," Robin mumbled, crossing his arms.

The titans and the crowd all watched as Blackfire and Starfire fought. Robin frowned, noticing something odd about their fight. When Blackfire first came to earth, her powers seemed equal to Starfire's. Now her starbolts were much larger than Starfire's, and she seemed to have much more strength. Was that the result of the jewel Glgrdsklechhh gave her?

Taking a tiny step forward, he noticed that it was embedded in her armor right above her heart. Robin clenched his fists, wanting to warn Starfire but knew it was pointless. Amazingly, Starfire was still fighting! She managed to quickly avoid the blows and send many of her own at Blackfire. Then again, Starfire has been fighting on earth, which resulted in a major improvement in her skills. Blackfire, it seems, has fallen behind in her combat training.

That gave Starfire a huge advantage!

As Robin watched the fight, he also noticed the crowd seemed to be cheering Starfire on. He smirked. Cyborg was right. Starfire's got this!

The fight wore on, and after several broken walls and furniture, Blackfire eventually fainted. Starfire slowly walked up to her big sister and ripped the jewel off her. It seemed she knew the jewel as well. Along with the jewel, she grabbed the crown and placed it on her own head. "Tamaran has a new grand ruler!" Starfire declared.

The crowd happily cheered, and Glgrdsklechhh hovered over to her. Starfire frowned at him. "I am sorry," she didn't sound apologetic in the slightest. "But there will be no wedding."

The green goop let out a disappointed burp sound, and Starfire turned to her sister, who was slowly regaining consciousness. "Take her away," she commanded, and the guards instantly rushed to Blackfire and handcuffed her.

"I won't forget this," Blackfire slurred at her sister, struggling to stay awake.

"I expect not." Starfire agreed and watched as her sister was dragged away yet again. She turned to the crowd, who was watching her expectantly. "For my second command, I wish to give away the crown."

After a small pause, the people in the crowd began whispering. Starfire smiled and flew over to Galfore, who was staring at her with pride blooming in his eyes. "Galfore," she raised the crown off of her head and handed it to him. "You shall be grand ruler. You are more than qualified."

"I… thank you," he gasped, tearing up at the honor. "You shall still be a part of the royal family and will be welcomed back as a hero of Tamaran."

Starfire grinned and hugged her guardian. "Thank you."

As she parted with Galfore, she flew over to her friends, who were staring at her with wide eyes. She smiled, "Let's go home, yes?"

Robin faltered a bit before saying, "Yeah… definitely."

"Goodbye princess!" Galfore called out.

Starfire smiled. "Goodbye."

* * *

It took a bit to get back to the ship. Almost every citizen they ran into wanted to speak to Starfire about her recent actions. While she politely spoke to them, there was an underlying irritation in her tone. Some of the citizens caught it and left her alone, but others did not. "Finally!" Beast boy exclaimed when the ship was in sight. Cyborg laughed and made a comment, but Starfire didn't bother listening. Raven, Beast boy, and Cyborg were walking in front of her, and Robin was walking beside her.

"I'm sorry I had to lie about you and Raven," she turned to her leader. She wasn't really sorry, but he didn't need to know that. "I did not want you to be punished for talking to me."

"It's fine," Robin shrugged uncaringly, and Starfire slightly frowned. He was too good at masking his emotions. She truly couldn't tell if he returned Raven's feelings or not. It was a little frustrating… "Are you okay though?"

Starfire smiled, her whole body relaxing. "Yes," she admitted in a whisper. She smiled brightly at him. "This is the best I have felt in a long time. Thank you."

Robin raised an eyebrow, about to comment on her words, but Beast boy interrupted by shouting, "Come on guys! I want to get home! Hurry up!"

Starfire giggled. "I guess we should speed up?"

Robin smirked. "Probably."

Robin watched as Starfire flew towards the ship with a bright smile on her face. It almost made him happy to see her so energetic. He glanced at Raven, who was already boarding the ship. He replayed their conversation in his head, but he couldn't figure out why she said those things. Did she truly mean them? Were they just a way of making sure he stayed away? If so, why was she pushing him away? All of those questions swirled in his mind, and he knew he wasn't going to get any answers.

Maybe… maybe he should just give up on Raven.

* * *

Alice: Thanks for reading!

Emily: I'm going to try and make the next episode one chapter.

Alice: Although it'll probably be two.

Emily: What did you guys think?

Alice: Let me know!


	8. Crash Part 1

Alice: New chapter!

Emily: Sorry it's been a while. School has been crazy busy!

Alice: But I'm free now, so let's get started!

Emily: Enjoy the chapter!

Alice: There's a lot of team bonding in this one!

Emily: Well not the whole team but one on one members of the team.

Alice: Especially with Cyborg, Beast boy, and Robin. Mainly because something happened in each of their lives which is quite parallel to each other in a way.

Emily: Read the chapter to see what I mean!

* * *

 **Crash**

 _Part 1_

 _His ankle was aching, sending stabs of pain throughout his leg. He could barely move his leg let alone stand on it. A strong figure grabbed him and hoisted him up, supporting most of his weight. Even with his ankle howling in pain, Beast boy attempted to steady himself as he stood up. He needed to stand right now._

 _Because if he didn't fight, she would die._

 _"Terra!" He screamed, but the blonde girl didn't turn around._

 _Fire and lava were surrounding the team, and Beast boy could feel the rising heat hit his face. Sweat was forming at the top of his forehead, and his ankle was swelling due to the injury Terra accidentally caused him. "TERRA!" He tried screaming again, but his voice wouldn't come out. He was silent and alone and in pain, and Terra wasn't turning around._

 _Fire engulfed the blonde girl before he could move, and he froze._

 _Even with the tremendous heat surrounding him, his body felt cold. He couldn't move… couldn't breathe… Terra… Terra…_

"TERRA!"

Beast boy gasped, sitting up in a panic. He quickly glanced around the room before realizing he wasn't underground but in the Titans Tower. He was home. He sighed, rubbing his forehead and dropping his body back on his bed. He shut his eyes tightly, willing the nightmare he just had to go away. Every night this has been happening, and every night it's just become worse. He could barely sleep, and he was pretty sure he lost a significant amount of weight.

He tried keeping these new developments from the team, and so far it was working. Each individual had so many issues to work out that they didn't notice the bags under Beast boy's eyes or his snappy, depressive behavior.

Since he had multiple nightmares, he already knew he would be unable to go back to sleep. Other nights he just lied away and thought of the nightmare, which would only depress him more. Instead he decided to what he usually did when this happened.

He threw the blankets off of him and basically dashed out of the room.

* * *

When Robin started making breakfast the next morning, he instantly noticed two things: Raven was sitting as far away from him as possible, and Beast boy was missing. Not wanting to deal with the first scenario, he sighed and stood up, grabbing his breakfast plates as he did so. "Robin?" Starfire questioned. He wasn't even finished half of his food.

"I have something I need to do," he answered her with a reassuring smile.

Cyborg frowned but said nothing as Robin dumped his dirty dishes in the sink and walked out of the room.

* * *

It was easy to figure out where Beast boy would be. Robin sighed as he glanced around the dark shadows filling the cave. While her loss hit the team pretty hard, no one was experiencing the amount of grief Beast boy was. Of course, Beast boy has definitely gotten better, but there were little moments that told Robin he clearly was not okay.

He approached the statue of Terra, which hasn't changed since that fateful night. Underneath it, Beast boy was curled up in a fetal position, completely asleep. Robin winced and slowly approached the younger teammate. On his cheeks, there were dried tearstains.

"Come on," he mumbled, softly grasping his shoulder. "Wake up BB."

He stirred slightly but didn't open his eyes. Robin pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He couldn't carry the boy, and he couldn't leave him here either. Instead he sat by the statue of Terra and leaned his head back. "I get it, you know," he started whispering. "I get what it's like to lose someone you were in love with. I never really lost her, but I couldn't be with her anymore. Her name was Barbara. When we broke up, I didn't know what to do with myself. I thought that her breaking up with me proved that I was messed up from the incident, and I would never get better. You met her before, you know, when I was… when I was _his_ apprentice. Anyway, I thought I'd never feel that heartbreak again. I figured she was the one, and I wasn't going to love anyone else, so why would I get hurt?

Then I met Raven. I don't know what it was about her, but I just… I don't know. I just ended up falling in love with her, and I thought maybe it'd be different this time. We were really close, and for a while, I thought we had something there and that she saw it too. Then she started avoiding me, and during our stay at Tamaran, she told me there was nothing. Less than nothing actually. I just… I may not have lost her like you lost Terra, but it still hurts. It hurts so much, and I can't take it, but at least she's alive. What you're feeling… I don't think I could imagine it."

Robin sighed, waiting for Beast boy to make some sort of movement, but he was still asleep. Instead of trying to wake up him, Robin just sat there and sighed. "I miss her too you know," he murmured. "I wasn't that close to Terra, but…"

At the name "Terra," Beast boy's body gave a small start. Robin slowly reached out and grasped his shoulder, shaking him awake. Beast boy's eyes sluggishly opened, and he tiredly glanced at Robin. "What're you doing here?" he slurred.

"You fell asleep in a cave. I think I should be the one asking questions," Robin sighed, slipping his hands under Beast boy's body to hoist him up. Even though Beast boy was finally standing, he was heavily leaning on Robin, who was basically carrying him out of the cave. The younger of the two still looked drowsy and was probably half asleep as they were walking. Robin guessed he was going to have to save this particular conversation for later.

* * *

By the time Beast boy woke up, Robin had already carried him back to the tower and placed him on the couch. Beast boy slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes, not remembering the past couple hours. He remembered he couldn't sleep, so he went to see Terra, but he ended up breaking down. Eventually he cried himself to sleep, and that was the last thing he remembered.

"You're awake?"

Beast boy gasped and whipped around to see Robin sitting on the table across from him. Beast boy flushed. "Um… yeah."

Robin nodded, immediately asking, "Are you okay?"

Beast boy shrugged. He knew he couldn't lie to Robin especially after what he had seen. "I just have trouble sleeping."

"Do you need anything to help?" he asked bluntly. "I have some stuff if you need."

Beast boy furrowed his eyebrows. "Stuff?"

"Sleeping pills," Robin's upper lip cracked in a small smile. "Nothing illegal. All over the counter."

"You need sleeping pills?!"

"Given everything you've seen with me, are you really that surprised?"

Not at all. Beast boy sighed, his mind flashing back to the incident with Soto. Robin warned him of everything he would experience in terms of the trauma from his torture. The way he said it made it seem like he experienced it as well, and Beast boy even confided in Terra about his theory that Robin had been tortured at one point. Terra…

"I just…" Beast boy struggled to form the words. "I can't stop thinking about what happened. I can't…"

Robin nodded sympathetically. "Have you tried talking about this with anyone?"

They both knew that he hadn't. Not really anyway. "No," he sighed. "I just… I want it to go away, you know."

"I know," Robin nodded understandingly. "You need to talk to someone about these things, BB. Otherwise it'll just eat you up."

"I know," Beast boy mumbled. "I'm just not ready to talk about it yet…"

"I understand," he nodded sympathetically. "I really do, but when you are ready, talk to me."

"I will," Beast boy stated.

Robin smiled and lightly patted Beast boy's shoulder. As the leader walked out of the room, Beast boy stared at the ground feeling absolutely numb. This wasn't the first time Robin has used the "I understand" card on him. When Beast boy confessed about his parents dying, Robin "understood." When Beast boy was tortured by Soto, Robin "understood." When Beast boy lost Terra, Robin "understood." At this point, he was so tired of hearing that line from him. Yes, he understood, but Beast boy wasn't Robin. He couldn't go through a traumatic experience and just train it off! He couldn't shove it all down and distract himself with meaningless training and…

And that was it…

Beast boy quickly stood up with a gasp. That was the answer all along! Thinking about Terra only caused him pain, so he just had to not think about her! And the only way to do that was to distract himself so he wouldn't! Robin trained and fought and obsessed over villains to forget his problems, and Raven meditated to forget about hers. He just had to figure out what would work for him!

Something that had always managed to distract him…

He knew what he had to do.

* * *

It took hours.

Hours of figuring out where to download it from and exactly how to download it. He watched so many videos of hacking he was sure he was almost as knowledgeable as Robin and Cyborg at this point! Throughout the entire process, he didn't think of Terra once! And now he had the ultimate distraction…

MEGA MONKEY'S FOUR!

He giggled to himself as he rushed to the Titan's lounge where he could play. Happiness and forgetfulness was so close he could almost taste it! Shoving the DVD into the player, he patiently waited for it to load on the screen.

Only for it to be spit out almost immediately afterwards.

His jaw dropped, and he stared at the DVD on the floor in shock. After all that work, he couldn't play it? What was he supposed to do now? An image of blonde hair and tearful blue eyes came to his mind, and he shook his head. No, he couldn't give up now!

Grabbing the DVD, he rushed around Titans Tower, trying to find another computer that could play the game. Unfortunately, none of them worked. Not even the Titans mainframe could handle the game! Each time he failed, he could feel the ghost pain on his ankle, the heat touching his face, and Terra's sorrowful eyes. He continually shook his head and tried to find another computer.

As he was rushing down the tower, he paused when he passed Cyborg's room.

Cyborg definitely had the most current tech in his room, and Beast boy was sure that his computer would be able to play the game. He was definitely sure that Cyborg wouldn't mind if Beast boy logged on to play a video game. Normally Cyborg was really cool with that kind of stuff! Although Cyborg had been a little off lately…

But it was worth a try!

Bursting through the doors, Beast boy tried to find Cyborg's main computer. When he did, he smiled brightly and rushed to the computer, shoving the DVD in. Almost immediately the doors opened and Beast boy gasped.

"BB?" Cyborg questioned, and Beast boy once again flinched at the name. Terra created the nickname, and ever since the Titans have been using it for him. It still reminded him of her, and he didn't like hearing it. "What are you doing here?"

"Just trying to play a game on your computer," Beast boy honestly replied, shrugging innocently. "I figured you wouldn't mind."

"I don't but just let me know next time," Cyborg sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he walked towards Beast boy.

"You okay?" Beast boy asked innocently.

Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, I just need a little recharging."

"Oh, let met get out of your way," Beast boy backed up a few steps.

"It's fine," Cyborg yawned. "I'll get the computer for you while I recharge."

Beast boy frowned at the comment but said nothing as Cyborg pressed a few buttons. Suddenly a computer came out from the wall, and Beast boy's jaw dropped. "Wait that's your computer?" Beast boy stared at it, unaware of what Cyborg was doing behind him. "If that's your computer then what's…"

He turned around to face Cyborg and nearly screamed at what he saw. Cyborg was putting a plug in his chest. It wasn't the fact that Cyborg was literally putting a plug into his body (he had seen that plenty of times over the years). It was that the origin of the plug was from the place where he just put in the DVD. The DVD with the illegally downloaded game. Beast boy knew that the game was bound to have viruses, but the videos told him the viruses wouldn't effect computers; however, they might affect Cyborg!

"Wait Cyborg, that might have a—" Beast boy started but it was too late.

The plug was in, and Cyborg let out a scream. "VIRUS!"

* * *

Robin awkwardly sat in the kitchen, glancing at Raven, who was by the stove. Starfire was sitting across from him, and he could tell she could feel the tension in the room. Robin wanted to say something, but he knew how Raven would react. After what happened with Beast boy that morning, he didn't want any drama to start, so he kept his mouth shut. He sighed, rubbing his forehead when all of a sudden Cyborg burst into the room. He jumped slightly and cursed himself for being off guard.

Robin frowned. "Cyborg?"

Cyborg turned to him and _teared up_. Robin gaped as Cyborg rushed to him and grabbed his shoulders. "Robin!" He exclaimed tearfully. "You're so perfect!"

"Excuse me?"

"How are you so perfect all the time? You're a genius, you're an amazing fighter, and you're great with girls!" Cyborg basically shouted. "Robin, I'm so jealous of you, and sometimes I think that gets in the way of our friendship. I'm sorry, but it's just so frustrating to see you so perfect. I mean, you're even better at technological stuff than me! And that's my thing!"

"I'm… sorry?" Robin raised an eyebrow, confused by Cyborg's behavior.

Raven slowly approached the emotional man. "Cyborg, are you okay?"

"No!" Cyborg exclaimed, turning to her and releasing Robin. "I'm not okay, thanks for asking! I lost Terra. I know I wasn't as close to her as BB and Star were, but I still considered her a really good friend. The fact that someone sent us Slade's mask is really freaking me out, and I know Robin has been pulling all nighters just so he could find whoever sent it, and I'm worried about whether or not he'll have another breakdown because of it!"

At that, both girls turned to Robin, who avoided their eye contact immediately.

Cyborg continued, "Not to mention the whole Robin and Raven drama. Honestly, when are you guys going to get together? We all know you two are going to eventually!"

At that, Robin and Raven instantly flushed, and Starfire blinked. "Cyborg!" Raven hissed.

Cyborg gasped, "You're right! I shouldn't have said that!"

"Yeah, you shouldn't have—"

"In front of Starfire!" Cyborg interrupted, turning to Starfire, who blushed. "Starfire, I'm so sorry Robin rejected you. I'm sorry I encouraged you to like him in the beginning. I honestly thought you two would be together until I realized how obvious it was that Robin and Raven were supposed to be together. I'm really sorry you're in love with someone who doesn't love you back."

"It's fine," Starfire rushed out. "I am over him anyway."

Robin perked up, turning to her with a large grin. "You are?"

Starfire smiled softly and nodded. "I am."

"That's great, Star," Robin grinned, and it was the happiest she'd seen him look in a long time. She would be lying if she said that didn't sting a bit.

"That's amazing! See, it's working out well for you!"

Just as he said that, Beast boy rushed into the room and paled when he saw all of the Titans together. "Um guys?" he stuttered. "There's a problem."

"You're damn right!" Cyborg turned to Beast boy. "Beast boy, I'm so sorry you lost Terra."

Beast boy outright flinched. "Um… Cy, I don't think we should talk about that."

"No we need to!" Cyborg crossed his arms over his chest. "Beast boy, I get that you've been hurting because of her. You were in love with her, and she was in love with you, but you couldn't be together. That must have hurt so much even when she was alive. To want to be with someone but know you can't because they're on the wrong side… Well you know what, screw it! You're in love, aren't you? Why does being on the opposite side have to matter?"

All of a sudden, Cyborg gasped and turned to the titans. "There's something I have to do."

Without any warning, Cyborg dashed out of the room, leaving a very confused team behind.

Beast boy blinked and was about to leave the room to chase after him, but Robin's stern voice made him freeze.

"Beast boy, explain."

He sheepishly turned around and tried to smile cutely at his leader. When it was apparent Robin wasn't in the mood to be lenient, Beast boy sighed and began telling the story from the beginning, knowing how angry Robin would be at him.

Well… at least he got his distraction.

* * *

Alice: Next chapter will deal with a lot more emotional stuff.

Emily: Can you guys guess where Cyborg went and why?

Alice: Anyway, thanks for reading! I'll try to post the next chapter ASAP.

Emily: What did you guys think of it? Good? Bad? Let me know!

Alice: Have an amazing day! Happy October!


	9. Crash Part 2

Alice: New chapter!

Emily: Only one more until Haunted!

Alice: That's when everything really starts to pick up between Robin and Raven.

Emily: Anyways, here you go! Enjoy!

Alice: Also, a guest review named Banana Gun asked this question

"Is the finale going to be 'The End' or 'Things Change'?"

The finale will be "Things Change," so season 5 will be included in this series! Thanks for asking!

Emily: Now on with the story :D

* * *

 **Crash**

 _Part 2_

It was alarmingly easy to find Gizmo. All Cyborg had to do was some tiny hacks to find the GPS on Gizmo's laptop. Because Gizmo just downloaded an illegal video game, tracking him became that much easier. Cyborg snuck into Gizmo's "secret" lair, and he noticed the child playing the video game he just downloaded. With a smirk, Cyborg ran up from behind him and grabbed him by the back of his collar. Gizmo screamed as Cyborg lifted him up and turned him around. "Hey Giz!" Cyborg beamed.

"It's you!" Gizmo exclaimed. "The traitor!"

"Yeah I know. Tell me where Jinx is."

Gizmo gaped. "W-what?" He squeaked. "Why would I tell you anything?"

Cyborg opened his mouth to spill his undying love for Jinx, but the last logical part of his brain warned him not to. Instead he just shrugged, "Why should I tell you? Just tell me where she is, and I'll let you go."

Gizmo narrowed his eyes. "Fine! She'll kick your ass anyway!"

"Probably. Where is she?"

Gizmo sighed before revealing her location.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Robin pinched the bridge of his nose. "Instead of wanting to talk about the Terra incident, like a mature adult, you decided to distract yourself with mindless video games? And illegally downloaded one using our tower's computers? And then accidentally plugged it into Cyborg's mainframe which gave him a virus that makes him overly emotional?"

Beast boy sheepishly grinned, "Yep."

Robin looked like he wanted to yell at him but instead took a deep breath. "Why would you think that was a good idea?"

Beast boy narrowed his eyes. "You do the same thing for training! Instead of taking about it, you just work out and punch stuff! How's that any different?"

"It's completely different!" Robin exploded causing Starfire to take a step back from him, and Raven to eye him wryly. "I have anger issues! I think we've long since established that! When you have anger issues, you have to take it out on _something_ instead of _someone_! That's why I train! You're going through grief, which means you have to talk about it before it completely swallows you up!"

Beast boy flinched, his eyes tearing up. "I'm sorry."

All at once Robin's body seemed to deflate, and he sighed. "I know you are, Beast boy. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled. It's been really stressful… for all of us."

Beast boy snorted, "Want to talk about it?"

Robin smirked. "Let's find Cyborg first."

"I agree," Starfire cut in.

"Right now Cyborg is overly emotional, which means he'll probably go somewhere that means a lot to him," Robin theorized.

Beast boy tilted his head to the side. "What about back home?"

Robin frowned, "Maybe…" he mumbled before his head whipped up. "Let's split up. Go somewhere that Cyborg is emotionally attached to."

Raven frowned, about ask what he knew, but she kept quiet. If Robin wasn't willing to share what his insights were on where Cyborg would go, it meant it was a personal secret between the two. After practically ending their friendship, Raven had no right to demand to know why Robin didn't trust them, or more specifically her, with that information. She sighed and nodded her head, "Alright."

Robin didn't even look at her, "Titans, go!"

As soon as everyone split up, Robin sighed, rubbing his forehead. Now that the team was out of the way, he needed to figure out how to find Jinx. She usually spent time with Gizmo and Mammoth, but Mammoth wouldn't be easy to track. Sure, he wasn't the smartest of villains, but he barely left a trace. Unlike Gizmo, who constantly used computers…

Robin's eyes widened.

He knew where to go.

* * *

Gizmo sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He really hoped Jinx wouldn't be angry with him for revealing her location to that traitor. Whenever he brought up Cyborg, a dark, solemn look always came to Jinx's face. He wasn't sure why his betrayal affected Jinx more than the rest of the team. Maybe it was because Jinx always considered herself really smart and hated that she was duped so easily? Either way, Gizmo could care less. He always thought Jinx was rather bossy, so maybe it was better if she got on upped.

Laughing to himself, he walked over to his television and grinned. Time to stop thinking about stupid things like the traitor and miss bossy-pants. Time to play MEGA MONKEY'S FOUR! Giggling, he was about to press play when he felt something grab at the back of his collar. "Not again!" he cried out as he was turned around and pressed against the wall.

Robin smirked, "You know, it's way too easy to find you. You should work on that."

"Good to know," Gizmo spat.

"Cyborg was here?"

"Yeah," he glared at the Teen Titans leader. "What's it to you?"

"Where's Jinx?"

Gizmo groaned, "Why do you guys want to know where Jinx is? Seriously!"

Robin shrugged, "That's for me to know, and you to never find out. Now where is she?"

Gizmo glared at him before sighing. "Fine! Fine! I'll tell you!"

He really hoped Jinx wouldn't find out it was him who revealed her location… twice.

* * *

Cyborg took a deep breath in as he stared at the large building before him. The streets were empty, thank goodness, and he just knew Jinx was probably robbing a jewelry store. She always loved beautiful things. Smiling, Cyborg took a step closer, knowing he would be with the one he loved soon enough. Before he could even take a step closer, a body suddenly slammed into his side, forcing him to fall to the ground. He groaned and looked up, seeing Robin standing above him. Cyborg narrowed his eyes and stood up, glaring at Robin. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Stopping you from making a mistake," Robin answered.

"She's not a mistake!"

Robin sighed, "Yes, Cyborg, she is. What do you think is going to happen? You'll go in there, confess your undying love for her, and then what?"

"We'll be together," Cyborg growled, charging at Robin with his fists raised.

Robin easily dodged the punch and kicked his back, sending Cyborg to the ground. "And how will that work exactly?" Robin titled his head to the side. "By day you'll go on dates but by night you'll fight each other? Oh yeah, sounds like a great relationship to me."

Cyborg howled and charged at him again, but Robin easily blocked each attempted hit. He managed to get a few of his own in, and it sent Cyborg flying back each time. Robin narrowed his eyes, "Cyborg," he stated in a serious voice, "I know you're emotional right now, but that's because of a virus. You have to think logically. What good will come out of that relationship? Eventually one of you will have to change sides, and I know neither of you want to."

"She has the potential to be good!" Cyborg cried out.

"Everyone has the potential to be good," Robin snapped. "And everyone has the potential to be bad. In the end, we decide! I don't think either of you are going to change that decision."

"You did!" Cyborg snapped. "You told Terra you killed someone! Last time I checked, Jinx never killed! If you can change sides, so can she!"

"Dammit Cyborg you don't know the full story!" Robin snapped, his fists clenching. "I didn't kill him because I wanted to! I took no pleasure in that! But Jinx does take pleasure in robbing people, and she likes to steal! She doesn't want to be good, and you can't convince her to be!"

"Beast boy convinced Ter—"

"TERRA'S DEAD, CYBORG!" Robin shouted. "Do you really want to compare what you have with Jinx to what Beast boy had with Terra? Because I can tell you how well that ended! Beast boy loved her, Cyborg, but it didn't make a difference in the end! Is that what you want your relationship with Jinx to be? Because I can tell you this: she's not on our side, and she never will be. Slade manipulated Terra. He found her at a vulnerable place and convinced her that being a criminal was the only way she would be loved and cared for. Jinx isn't being manipulated by anyone. Jinx is doing this of her own free will, and she enjoys it. You have to let go!"

Cyborg's mouth fell open and tears came to his eyes. "I just…" he whispered. "She's the first person to see through everything… she's…"

Robin sighed, "I get it."

"No you don't!"

"Cyborg," Robin replied stiffly, " _I get it_."

Cyborg's hands began to shake and he promptly dropped to his knees, tears coming to his eyes. Robin sighed and slowly approached the sobbing teenager, rubbing his back. "It's okay," he mumbled. "Cyborg, I'm so sorry."

Cyborg frowned, but before he could react, Robin slammed something into the back of his head. He moved far too quickly for Cyborg to see what exactly he used to hit him. Instead all Cyborg saw was darkness as he was knocked out.

* * *

 _"You know," Jinx stated from across the cafeteria table, "I've always been really good at predicting movie endings."_

 _Cyborg blinked, tilting his head to the side. "What does that have to do with anything?"_

 _She smiled knowingly. "I'm just saying. Everyone's always so surprised by the endings of some films, but I always manage to guess them. Have you ever seen_ Sixth Sense _? I saw that ending coming from a mile away."_

 _"You have?" Cyborg exclaimed. "That took me by total surprise!"_

 _She giggled, "That's not the only one either. I'm just amazing at guessing when it comes to films. Real life though… that's another story."_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"I always try to figure out what people are thinking, but they're so much more complex than a movie," she looked directly into his eyes. "It makes strategizing a plan a lot of trouble because you have to think about every angle."_

 _"I understand that. Then it's really frustrating when some people come along and have five hundred different plans for one scenario, and every plan is perfect," Cyborg agreed, placing his flesh looking hand under his chin._

 _Jinx nodded in agreement, "Definitely."_

 _"So what's the point of telling me all this? It seems a little random."_

 _She smiled, "I'm just saying maybe we should watch a movie together, and you can see how talented I am at guessing the ending."_

 _Cyborg blushed. "S-sure…"_

 _"And who knows," Jinx leaned in, a playful smile on her lips, "Maybe I'm right about how this will end too."_

 _"This?"_

 _"You'll see. Soon, probably." Jinx winked. "It's the one thing I'm good at guessing at in real life."_

 _"You're very strange."_

 _"Yeah, people usually tell me that. The hair gives it away."_

 _At that, Cyborg nearly choked on his food. Jinx burst out laughing, and Cyborg speedily joined her._

 _He felt almost peaceful…._

"Cyborg?"

Cyborg gasped, his eyes snapping open. His eyes hurriedly scanned the room, and he saw he was in Titans Tower. He frowned, trying to remember how he got in the mechanics section of the tower from his room, but he could only remember his dream. It happened right before Jinx and Cyborg had to go to class, and at the time, Cyborg was unaware of his feelings towards her. In fact, he finally figured it out in the middle of the class they went to after that.

"Cyborg!" Beast boy exclaimed. "How are you?"

"Um… good?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Are you emotional?" Beast boy interrogated. "About to cry?"

"What?" Cyborg frowned, sitting up from the table and seeing that all the titans were there. "No, I'm not. Why—"

All of the memories flooded back at once, and he flushed. "Oh…" he stated dumbly.

The team all at once nodded.

Cyborg frowned, "Wait how did you get that virus out of me?"

"It was easy enough," Robin shrugged. "I just rebooted your system which automatically turned on virus protection. You're fine now."

"Thanks…" Cyborg sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I feel like I got really drunk, confessed to a bunch of stuff I really shouldn't have, and am sobering up now."

Robin snorted, "That's exactly what happened.

The team turned to him, raising an eyebrow. Beast boy blinked, "Wait you've…"

Robin shrugged, "Once or twice."

"What kind of drunk were you?" Beast boy asked curiously, and Robin raised an eyebrow.

"You don't want to know."

Beast boy pouted, "Angry drunk?"

"I could get angry really easily, but I'm like that sober too."

"Sad? Happy?"

"You don't want to know. Trust me."

Beast boy rolled his eyes and turned to Cyborg. "What about you?"

Starfire titled her head to the side and glanced at Raven, who was rolling her eyes. "Are we really talking about this?" Raven deadpanned. "Really?"

Robin snorted in amusement only to frown immediately afterwards. Clenching his fists, he directed his gaze at Cyborg, ensuring that he wouldn't have to look at Raven. "Cyborg, we'll need to talk about—"

"Yeah, yeah we always need to talk about something," Cyborg grumbled, stretching his arms over his head. "Mind if I get a break before our little talk though? I just sobered up from a very embarrassing experience, and I'd like to hide out for the day."

Robin sighed but nodded his head. "Fine. We'll give you your privacy."

At that, he turned and walked out of the room. Starfire and Raven glanced at each other before following his lead, leaving Cyborg and Beast boy behind. Beast boy shuffled his feet, his eyes glued to the ground. "Um… Cyborg?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. This whole thing is my fault. I just wanted a distraction, and I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. I just wanted to play a video game," he mumbled apologetically.

Cyborg's eyes softened. "It's fine. I get the whole distraction thing. Losing someone you care about hurts."

Beast boy flinched. "Yeah," he mumbled.

Cyborg scooted over and patted the empty spot next to him. Taking the hint, Beast boy hopped up to sit next to his best friend. "You want to talk about it?"

Beast boy snorted. "Robin was saying the same thing. I don't want to talk about it because it... it'll just hurt more."

"Keeping it inside makes it hurt more," Cyborg stated.

Beast boy sighed. "I just… I always lose everyone I love, you know? This isn't the first time this has happened: Terra, the Doom Patrol, my par—… Am I just bad luck?"

"You're not bad luck," Cyborg comforted. "It's just the way life is. Bad things happen, and we have to deal with them. Sometimes it's really hard, and we want to pretend it didn't happen or blame ourselves. In the end, all this stuff that happens is just a part of life. It's not our fault, and we can't pretend that it didn't happen. It'll just make us feel worse."

Beast boy nodded, tears coming to his eyes. "Can I tell you something kind of bad?"

"Go ahead."

"Sometimes… sometimes I get really angry, you know? At everything. I don't let anyone know, and I try to keep it a secret because when I get angry, I start having these terrible thoughts. I start getting angry at Terra for betraying us and for being so easily manipulated, and part of me just starts to hate her. It makes no sense! I know she was being manipulated, and I know that she gave her _life_ to fix that mistake. So why…?"

Cyborg stared at him for a long time before nodding. "It's alright to think that," Cyborg mumbled. "You're angry. It's a part of the grieving process."

"But—"

"You loved her, and in her final moments, you forgave her. That will mean more to her than anything in the world. By being angry at her now, it just proves how much you miss your. You're frustrated that you can't be with her anymore, and you're trying to blame it on everyone including yourself and including her. It'll pass."

Beast boy leaned his head on Cyborg's shoulder. "No, it won't. It'll just start fading out until it doesn't hurt as much, but it will never pass."

Cyborg was about to retort, but the image of his mother came to his head. "I understand."

Beast boy chuckled humorlessly.

"Yeah… we all seem to understand."

* * *

Alice: Haunted is next! I repeat Haunted is next!

Emily: It's going to be a very, very intense chapter!

Alice: And the RobRae… that's when it will start.

Emily: Thanks for reading! Happy Halloween week!

Alice: I'm so excited!


	10. Haunted Part 1

Alice: I am so excited!

Emily: This is it! I've been waiting to write Haunted since I started this entire series, so I am pretty pumped.

Alice: I hope you like the chapter! This is where all of the RobRae begins.

Emily: Enjoy!

* * *

 **Haunted**

 _Part 1_

Cyborg was worried about him. That much he admitted to when he was affected by the virus and blurted out how he noticed Robin was pulling all-nighters. But that was the only time it was brought up, and Robin quickly ensured it was never a subject of conversation afterwards. Then again, Cyborg wasn't exactly trying that hard to talk about it. Whenever Cyborg tried to push Robin into telling him information in the past, it never worked out well. Still, this was just getting ridiculous.

Robin was sitting by the main computer, which was flashing images of the city. His eyes were glued to the screen as though to ensure nothing was wrong. It gave Cyborg a very "Big Brother" feel.

"You still up?" He finally asked after a few minutes of standing behind him.

Robin didn't react. "I've got work to do."

Cyborg frowned and turned his eyes to the screen. "Well whatever you're looking for is probably asleep. Like you should be."

Robin didn't bother responding, and Cyborg sighed.

"Alright then." He shrugged, about to exit the room. He paused for a moment, "Robin, try to get some sleep."

He received no response, which he expected at this point. He sighed and walked out of the room without a second thought. As he made his way to his own room, he pondered whether or not leaving Robin alone was a good idea. While it appeared he had his breakdowns under control, it could very well be the opposite. After all, when Cyborg first met Robin, he didn't think he would have any breakdowns at all! Robin was very good at hiding when he felt his "episodes" coming on, and he never talked to the team about them. Maybe if Cyborg tried a little harder and Robin talked about it, they would stop occurring…

No, he shook his head. Every time the team has tried to press Robin into talking about it, he always ended up freaking out in one way or the other. It was best to just leave it alone…

Yeah right.

Cyborg sighed and immediately turned around, determined to at least get an "I'm okay" from Robin. That would settle his nerves just a bit even if he knew Robin was most likely lying. By the time he made it back to the main lounge of the tower, Robin was no longer in his seat.

For a moment, Cyborg was relieved. Obviously Robin had gone back to bed…

No, that didn't sound right. Robin? Sleeping? Taking care of his body and making actively healthy decisions based on his mentality?

That was definitely not at all like Robin.

He sighed and started making his way down the halls. He knew where Robin would be.

As he made his way down the steps of the basement, he saw Robin crouched over on the floor coughing. Clearly he was looking at Slade's mask. Cyborg sighed and walked over to the lights, turning them on and briefly startling Robin, who jumped up. Cyborg stared at him pitifully, "He's gone, you know." He stated.

Robin frowned and looked at the mask in his hands. "We can't know that for sure," Robin stiffly replied, coughing from the dust. "We saw him melt away in that pit, so how can his uniform still be sent to us?"

Cyborg sighed, "Exactly. Robin, he melted in a pit of lava! Not even Slade can survive that. He probably just had a bunch of other uniforms, and someone he used to work with sent them to us to scare us. Clearly it's working."

Robin scowled. "He might—"

"It's over Robin." Cyborg stated. Ironically, just as he said that, the alarm went off causing Robin to quickly put the mask back in its box.

"Let's go," he said before quickly running off. Cyborg sighed before following him.

* * *

Cinderblock. Again. Robin nearly rolled his eyes when he saw the criminal destroying parts of the street. They caught him so many times. How did the jailing facilities keep allowing him to break out? It was getting kind of ridiculous. "Titans," he shouted, "finish this quickly."

They all nodded, and together they rushed after Cinderblock with full force. It was easy enough to gain his attention when they all started firing at once. Robin was careful to dodge the majority of Cinderblock's attacks while also not slipping. It was pouring rain, which caused the roads to be especially muddy.

At one point, Cinderblock managed to grab Starfire's foot and hurl her at Raven. The two girls collided with a pained gasp, and Robin narrowed his eyes. As Cinderblock was distracted, Robin hurriedly rushed towards the monster and began landing blows on him. Cinderblock howled with rage and attempted to hit Robin, but he quickly backed away. Unfortunately, Cinderblock thought of something new to do. He raised his fists and pounded them on the street, causing ground beneath Robin to hurl him up.

"Robin!" He heard someone shout as he was flung out of the battlefield and into the woods behind them. Grunting in pain, he tried to focus on catching himself as he tumbled down. He grabbed one of the branches and used his momentum to spin around it before landing. He stood up and rubbed his gloved hands together sighing. Great, how was he going to get back to the battle—

Something caught the corner of his eye, and he whirled around. All he could see was a flash of a dark suit and a mask that was half orange. His whole body froze and his mind quickly started rapidly replaying the day Slade fell into a pit of lava. There was no way. It was impossible. Sure, Robin had his doubts, but he still didn't actually think that he would return. He couldn't be, right?

"Hello Robin."

That was his voice.

"Slade," he growled out and immediately rushed to where he heard the voice. The "dead" criminal mastermind was standing there with his arms tucked behind his back. He was looking far too pleased with himself, and Robin could feel his fists clenching at the sight. He broke out into a ran towards Slade, who turned and ran from the boy. Good.

As Robin was chasing him, Slade jumped up and grabbed a sturdy tree branch, hoisting himself up so he could hop on the branches. Robin clenched his teeth and followed the man. Soon the two were leaping from branch to branch, and Robin was getting no closer to him. Once they reached a particularly thick branch, Slade stopped, waiting for Robin to land on the same place. "Already out of breath?" he sounded amused. "You're out of practice."

"You—" Robin wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say, but Slade interrupted him before he could compose something.

"I didn't come here to talk. I came here to warn you. I figured I could test you like I did in the past," Slade stated.

"So I could become your apprentice," he spat.

"I've placed seismic generators on key fault lines in the city," Slade ignored his comment. "In three hours, they will activate and cause an earthquake so magnificent it will break your city in two."

"An earthquake?" Robin narrowed his eyes, a blonde haired girl coming to his mind. Was Slade purposefully trying to recreate Terra's powers to hurt them? Probably knowing Slade. All at once, the three main key fault lines in the city rushed in his head, and his fists clenched. He dashed towards Slade, letting out a scream, but Slade quickly evaded his attacks and jumped off the branch to the ground.

Robin followed and hurled his staff at Slade, but in a flash of light, he was gone.

Once he landed, Robin grabbed his staff, which was sticking out of the muddy ground. He frowned as he recalled the battle. Usually when he fought Slade, he could land a few punches or kicks. This time, however, he couldn't hit Slade once. Had he really become that slow?

"Um… hate to interrupt your little nature hike," a voice interrupted, and Robin felt his grip on the staff tighten at Beast boy's voice. "BUT WHERE WERE YOU? We had to finish off Cinderblock in the cold!"

"Slade," he spat out, turning to the Titans.

All of their eyes widened. "What?" Cyborg blinked.

"He's back."

"How?" Cyborg gaped. "Are you sure you weren't seeing things? I know you've had Slade on your mind lately, but…"

"It was him." Robin firmly stated.

"The dude fell in a pit of lava!" Cyborg continued to argue. "How can someone survive that?"

"Apparently Slade can," Raven answered, staring worriedly at Robin, who wouldn't even look at her.

"Let's take him down."

The Titans all turned to the one who spoke. Surprisingly, it wasn't Robin who spoke with the conviction and hate but Beast boy, whose eyes were hard and fists were clenched. Robin nodded, understanding exactly why Beast boy would harbor such resentment. He wasn't going to be happy learning the next bit of information.

"He has seismic generators on the key fault lines of the city," Robin informed them. "We have to stop them before it causes a massive earthquake."

At the word "earthquake," Beast boy narrowed his eyes. He clearly had the same thoughts on the methods of the city's destruction that Robin did. He was trying to impersonate Terra, who died to stop him. It was degrading to her image, and he understood why Beast boy especially would be furious at that. "Cyborg, check out the bridge. Raven, go to the park. Beast boy, the pier."

"No!" Beast boy angrily exclaimed. "I'm going with you to hunt Slade."

Robin paused, taking in the smaller boy and sighed. "Fine. Starfire, you take the pier. Beast boy and I will go after Slade."

Raven frowned. "Are you—"

"I gave you an order," Robin barked at her, causing her to frown. "Follow it."

Raven reluctantly nodded her head, knowing fighting back would only result in more anger. Beforehand, when they fought, he always argued back. The way he commanded her to follow his orders though… it was like he didn't even want her to speak. She could hardly blame him, and part of her was ashamed of the reasoning behind it. It was for the best, she told herself, even if it resulted in his anger. She just hoped he wouldn't let his anger get the best of him.

Again.

* * *

Beast boy watched as Robin stomped his way across the forest, his head whipping in any direction he heard movement. While he wanted to catch Slade as much as Robin, doubts still lingered in his head. After all, Slade fell into a pit of lava! How could he survive that? Plus, Cyborg revealed during the virus situation that Robin was pulling all-nighters to catch whoever sent Slade's mask, so he could be seeing things.

At the same time though, if Slade was alive…

Anger boiled in his chest at the thought of the man who manipulated and beat Terra for his own selfish gain. He clenched his fists, kept his doubts silent, and continued walking with Robin.

All of a sudden, Robin ceased all movement before dashing off in some random direction.

"What the hell?" Beast boy mumbled before chasing after him. It took a few minutes to catch up to Robin, but when he finally did, Beast boy was greeted with a strange sight.

Robin was on the ground, struggling to get up. Beast boy gaped. There was no way Slade beat Robin that quickly! It always took a lengthy fight before one of them was down. What happened? Before Beast boy could run to Robin to help, Robin lifted his head and screamed, "BEAST BOY! GET HIM!"

Beast boy blinked, taking in his surroundings. There was no one there…?

Sudden Robin was in front of him, harshly grabbing his arm and pulling him towards him. Beast boy gasped in pain as Robin screamed, "Slade was right in front of you! How could you let him get away?"

"What?" Beast boy exclaimed, trying to escape from Robin's painful grip. "Robin, there was no one there!"

Robin frowned, staring at Beast boy with what he suspected to be wide eyes.

* * *

Starfire sighed as she flew down to meet with Cyborg and Raven, who were patiently waiting in the rain. Once she landed at the arranged meeting spot, she took in the stern expressions of her teammates. "I found nothing," she confessed, bowing her head in disappointment.

Raven nodded, "I didn't either."

"I ran a whole sweep of the city's seismic faults," Cyborg stated. "It's all clean. I think this is one of Slade's tricks."

Starfire frowned, hugging her body. "The last time he sent us on a chase like this… Robin became his apprentice. You don't think…?"

"Maybe." Raven sighed. "We all know he was after Robin the entire time, and Terra was his backup plan. But I don't think Slade would try the same tricks twice. It doesn't seem like him."

Cyborg nodded in agreement before the corner of his eye caught something green. "Beast boy's back…"

The team turned to the direction Cyborg was looking. A green bird flew down and quickly morphed into a very worried Beast boy. The team all glanced at each other before directing their attention onto their youngest member. "Beast boy?" Cyborg approached him.

Beast boy flinched. "Robin's gone crazy…"

Cyborg frowned. "What?"

"He said he saw Slade, and he told me to catch him, but Slade wasn't there." Beast boy firmly stated. "It wasn't a trick of his eye either… Robin was lying on the ground because of whatever he was seeing. Guys… I think he's having another one of his freak-outs, and he's seeing things because of it."

Cyborg frowned, uncertainly saying, "Robin's never seen things because of his freak-out's before. He's had flashbacks and was stuck in those, but he's never—"

"I think this is a new form of freak-out," Beast boy interrupted, rubbing his arm. "He got really violent and—"

"Did he hurt you?" Cyborg asked sternly, images of the beaten Jericho and Terra in his mind.

Beast boy seemed to understand what he was thinking and shook his head, "No, he just grabbed me a little too roughly. Nothing like what happened with Jericho and Terra."

Cyborg nodded although he still appeared very upset by that information.

Raven sighed, "Where is he now?"

Beast boy sighed, "He decided to go search for Slade alone."

Cyborg nodded, "Let's go find Robin."

* * *

Robin carefully walked through Slade's destroyed base. So many memories here, and none of them were pleasant. His eyes took in every detail of the place, but it seemed almost unrecognizable. Everything was destroyed and piled up. Slade was organized, and he would have never allowed for such a mess. The room was dark but not so dark that Robin couldn't see.

As he explored, he started feeling more and more hopeless. Beast boy said that he couldn't see Slade, and none of the team members have contacted him about finding the seismic generators, which meant they haven't found them yet…

How could they not see what was going on? Why only him?

"Here we are again… the old haunt… just the two of us," Slade's voice rang out.

Robin turned to the source of the voice and saw Slade standing over him on a pile of the old machinery. Robin clenched his fists, "Why couldn't Beast boy see you?"

"I think you're familiar with cloaking techniques," Slade replied in amusement.

"I'm familiar with all your tricks," Robin spat back, not questioning the fact that Slade's never used such techniques before.

"Then stopping me should be easy for you."

Growling, Robin began climbing the rub until he reached the top only to frown. Slade wasn't there… how—

Suddenly the platform he was standing on leaned far too right and collapsed with Robin on it. He gasped and quickly jumped off, dashing down the large space as fast as he possibly could. Once he landed on the ground, the platform followed in suit, and he quickly rolled over to avoid being crushed. Shakily, he stood up panting, whipping around any time he heard sound.

"This does bring back so many memories…" Slade's voice rang out.

Robin growled, "All I can remember is how much I hated you."

"Really? All I can remember is how you couldn't defeat me."

Suddenly Slade was standing on another platform, staring down at him once again. Robin growled and quickly climbed up another platform, jumping from one to the other until he leaped towards the one Slade was standing on. He gasped when his jump was too short, and he quickly grabbed onto the edge of the platform, his body dangling off. Slade was standing before him. Robin could see the amusement in his eye.

"Your friends won't find the generators, and they can't see me," Slade sneered. "They can't see the truth even though it's right in front of them."

Robin let out a scream, throwing his body down and using his legs to kick the platform. Using that momentum, he managed to jump to the same level as Slade. He growled, "Then I'll just have to stop you myself. I've stopped you before!"

Slade tilted his head to the side, "Robin, if you've stopped me, then why am I still here?"

Letting out a howl of anger, Robin rushed towards the criminal.

* * *

Raven flew into the tunnel, feeling more on edge the further she went. Cyborg used Robin's locator signal and discovered he was in Slade's old hideout. The team had quickly rushed there in hopes of finding Robin before he did something stupid. After Beast boy had revealed Robin was just seeing things, worry ran through her body. Worry and self-blame.

If she hadn't ended their friendship, maybe it wouldn't have caused so much strain on Robin. Strain that, paired with being sent Slade's mask, caused Robin to have another episode. He had been doing so well after Terra's death that they thought perhaps it was over… they were wrong. This was probably one of the most intense freak-out's he's ever had, and it was because of a dumb mistake Raven made.

Well, she was going to make it right no matter what.

Pained grunts and battle cries were heard in the distance, and the team quickly rushed into the room. They weren't sure what they were expecting, but what they saw was not something they ever thought they would see.

Robin was on the ground, panting and coughing. Scars and bruises were scattered throughout his body, and his uniform was torn in multiple places. "Robin?" Cyborg exclaimed.

"SLADE!"

Starfire gasped and immediately held out her hand, allowing a starbolt to light the room. The team and Robin glanced around but there was no Slade in sight. Robin growled and turned to the team, "Why aren't you finding the generators?" Robin spat.

Cyborg frowned, trying to use a calm but stern voice, "Robin, I don't think there are any generators."

"Of course there are!" Robin shouted. "Slade must be cloaking them like he's cloaking himself. That's why you couldn't see him!"

Starfire frowned, "But if Beast boy could not see him… why could you?"

Robin paused, taking in the expressions of his teammates. "What are you trying to say?"

"Robin," Raven took a step towards him, "are you sure you saw Slade?"

"Saw him?" Robin sounded almost offended. "I fought him! You think I did this to myself?!"

As he said that, he gestured to one of the larger bruises on his upper arm. Above that, the team could see his sleeve was missing. Almost like someone tore it off…

"Dude, this is the only way in or out, and we were standing here the whole time," Beast boy tiredly tried to explain. "No one got in or out."

Robin's lips parted in surprise. Clenching his fists, he shook his head, "I don't have time for this… I have to find the generators!"

Cyborg stepped in front of him, "There are no generators, and there is no Slade!"

"I know what I saw!" Robin screamed, backing away from his teammate like a caged animal. "I have to find them… I'm the only one who can!" Suddenly he pulled out one of the sharper gadgets from his belt. The same one he used to stab Terra's leg. "And I'll stop anyone who gets in my way!"

The team stared at him in shock. They were so surprised by his words that they did not notice Starfire creep up behind Robin until she blasted him with a starbolt. They all jumped when Robin suddenly fell to the floor.

Starfire flinched when they stared at her in horror. "He threatened to harm us," she whispered. "I did what I had to."

Raven's eyes softened, and she approached Starfire, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Let's take him home."

* * *

Robin groaned as he woke up. His entire body hurt, and his head was pounding. He tried to sit up, but something was preventing him from moving. Frowning, he attempted to move any part of his body but found he couldn't. When his eyes finally opened up, he gasped at the restraints on his body. "No…" he whispered. "No no no no no!"

The team was standing before him, staring at him in concern. "Robin?" Starfire asked in concern. "Are you alright?"

"NO!" Robin shouted, his body practically flailing. If it weren't for the restraints, his movements would be out of control. "Don't tie me up! Not again! Not again! Please, oh God don't!"

The begging continued, and Starfire appeared more broken hearted with every word coming out of his mouth. She turned to Cyborg, who couldn't even look at the boy. "We can't let him go," he whispered. "He tried to hurt us, and he hurt himself. He's dangerous."

"I can't listen to this," Starfire whimpered, and Raven slowly wrapped her arms around the girl. Normally Raven wasn't big on physical contact, but they both needed the comfort. After all, Raven could barely stand to look at Robin when he was like this either. Slowly the titans filed into the other room, ignoring Robin's pleas to let him go.

Robin squeezed his eyes shut, trying to control his breathes as the team left the room. Left him alone in the dark tied up just like he did…

"He's dead," he whispered to himself. "He's not here… he's dead."

"Are you sure about that?"

Robin gasped as Slade moved back the curtain. "No," he gasped out.

"You thought I was dead, and here I am. How can you be so sure about him?"

"Don't…" he whispered.

Slade walked towards him, "I was so surprised when I found out. All of those ideas, all of the things he did to you… he's a very creative man. I suppose that is why he had more success turning you against your loved ones than I did. Perhaps I should try some of his tricks."

As he said that, he held up a taser, making Robin whimper and struggle more.

He needed to get out… now!

* * *

"I don't get it," Cyborg slumped down on the chair, glancing at the screen with Robin's vitals. "He's never had a freak-out like this before. He's never started hallucinating things that weren't there."

"I told you—" Beast boy began.

"I know," Cyborg sighed. "But why now? Why not right after Terra died? Or right after he was sent the mask? What happened that made him lose his cool like this?"

Suddenly all of the eyes in the room drifted to Raven, who was hugging herself and leaning against the wall. "Rae?" Beast boy reluctantly asked. "You okay?"

Raven shut her eyes tightly. "It's my fault."

"It's not your fault," Starfire soothed.

"I fought with him a lot," she whispered, "and I—"

"It's not your fault," Beast boy reaffirmed Starfire's point. "I'm pretty sure we've all suspected that his past isn't the prettiest. It's just a combination of Terra's death, Slade's mask, lack of sleep, and his PTSD from whatever happened to him. He's just been pushing it all down, and it was finally let out."

"Me fighting with him didn't exactly help," Raven pointed out.

"It didn't," Cyborg agreed, "but I doubt it caused this much of a change in him."

"I agree," Starfire stated.

Raven sighed and nodded her head although she didn't agree with them. Suddenly she frowned and looked at the team, "He hasn't pulled this 'I'm going to work alone' stunt in a long time… he's learned to trust us more since then."

"He's regressing," Cyborg agreed.

Beast boy fiddled with his fingers, "Guys, do you think we should call Batman?"

The team frowned and glanced around. Unlike before, Robin and Batman were on good terms now. There was a less likely chance of Robin hating them if they contacted him. At the same time, what would Batman do that would help? If it was all due to Robin's mental breakdown, they highly doubted bringing in Batman would heal him. Still, he might know what to do…

A beeping distracted them, and they looked at Robin's charts with alarm.

"His vitals," Raven gasped, her eyes going wide.

"They're off the charts! A human can't survive at this rate!" Starfire cried out. All at once, Robin's vitals dropped to basically nothing. The team all felt their hearts freeze, and they dashed into the medical room without a second thought.

Robin wasn't on the bed.

"Where is Robin?" Starfire whirled to the team. There was a moment of silence, and sight banging in the vents could be heard. The team looked up and saw one of the vents were opened. Beast boy quickly morphed into a small bird and flew towards the vent, but it suddenly closed on him, forcing him to slam onto the wall before falling to the floor.

All of the doors and windows had metal walls in front of it.

"He's activated the quarantine protocol," Cyborg whispered. "Nothing can get in or out."

"We shall see about that!" Starfire screamed and hurled a starbolt at the door. It only bounced off, nearly hitting the titans in the process. Letting out a pained scream, she began pounding on the door with her fists. Cyborg quickly dashed to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her away from the door. They shared a look before Cyborg let her go, and his hand was replaced with a saw. He knelt down and started trying to cut through the door.

Beast boy stared at them when he heard rustling behind him. He turned around and saw Raven going into her meditation pose. "What are you doing?" He questioned.

"Finding Robin," she said before closing her eyes.

She could feel her spirit move from her body and go through the vents as she tried to find Robin. Once she felt his presence, she instantly pushed into his mind. Normally there would be some resistance, and she would have to fight with the brain's defenses. Yet the moment he felt her, he gripped onto her tightly. It caused her to gasp. Never before had anyone had this reaction to her before, and it caught her off guard. So off guard that she accidentally lowered her defenses, and it caused an instant connection.

Memories flooded her head. Memories that were not her own.

 _A little circus boy with blue eyes smiling at his parents, laughing as his dad challenged him to another backflip contest._

 _An old man beaming at him in pride, praising him for being able to fly._

 _A man and woman falling, their eyes wide with fear as they stared at their little boy._

 _No room at the orphanage… the juvenile center… boys beating up the circus boy… the butler making him food._

 _The billionaire holding out his hand… comforting him… "I lost my parents too."_

 _"Robin." He stated. "I want my name to be Robin."_

 _"Why is it overwhelmed and underwhelmed? Why can't it just be whelmed?"_

 _"Dude," the boy in yellow groaned, "stop messing around with the English language!"_

 _"You're like a son to me, Dick."_

 _A woman screaming and the boy running to save her only to find darkness…_

 _Pain. So much pain. She wanted to scream but daddy would hear…_

 _Daddy's dead. They killed him. They pulled the trigger._

 _Barbara… she loved Barbara. Her pretty smile, her sense of humor, but it wasn't meant to be._

 _Run. Have to run. Batman wants to take away Robin. Can't take away Robin. Robin was a part of them. Had to Run._

There were so many images, so many emotions… Raven thought her head was going to explode. Too much information… Suddenly she gasped and newer memories came. Memories of the team… they were smiling together, laughing together, crying together. Never before had they felt so in place, like they belonged. This was theirs, not Bruce's or Batman's. Not the league's. His. Theirs.

A woman was smiling at him. A beautiful woman with short dark hair and shining purple eyes. She was always hiding away in her room. Why? Why was she hiding? She acted like she understood the darkness… no, she did understand. She was comforting. She was powerful. She was funny. She was beautiful. She understood. She loved her. He loved her.

"Raven?" Robin's voice filled her head, and she gasped.

He was in love with her.

* * *

Alice: I hope you liked the chapter!

Emily: Everything after this is straight up RobRae bonding.

Alice: Finally, right?

Emily: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought!


	11. Haunted Part 2

Alice: New chapter!

Emily: I hope you all like it (especially the last scene).

Alice: Hopefully I made it worth the wait! Finals can be difficult, but now I'm out of school for a bit!

Emily: Which means I'll have more time to update!

Alice: My goal is to update at least twice a week, but sometimes it will be just once.

Emily: Anyways, here you go! New chapter! The one that changes everything!

Alice: Enjoy!

* * *

 **Haunted**

 _Part 2_

 _Calm down,_ she thought to herself, _calm down. You can't talk to him while you're in a panic. Calm down._

She took in three deep breaths, attempting to slow her beating heart. He was in love with her, and he was going crazy, and she had to calm him down. "Robin," she whispered, hoping to get through to him. "Robin, you need to clam down."

 _You have to get out of here!_ Robin replied, his voice screeching in her mind. He was terrified. _Slade, he'll hurt you! He's—_

 _He's not real, Robin._ Raven stated in a calm voice.

 _He is real! I've seen him!_

 _Then let me see him. Through your eyes._

She pushed even further into his mind, and he allowed her to do so. Slowly she opened her eyes and immediately grimaced at the pain. That's when she realized it was not her eyes but Robin's that she was looking through. It worked! Normally seeing through another person's eyes would take much training and building of trust to accomplish, but it worked immediately. Perhaps it was due to the immediate connection…

She couldn't think about that right now. Shaking her head, she looked around the room. Her (his?) ribs ached like they had been broken, and her (his?) entire body screamed to sit down. She couldn't though. She had to prove to Robin that Slade was gone.

 _See?_ She questioned. _No one is—_

Slade appeared all at once and suddenly she was literally pushed out of his mind. She gasped, her entire body hurling back against the wall as she screamed, "Slade!"

Her body hit the floor making her groan, and the titans were instantly surrounding her. "What happened?" Beast boy demanded.

"He was there!" Raven gasped in surprise.

"What?" Cyborg gasped. "He's alive?"

Raven shook her head, "I'm not sure. Whether or not he is, he's alive to Robin, and he truly believes he's fighting Slade… and he's losing."

It didn't make any sense though… Raven squeezed her eyes tightly, trying to recall the exact details of what she saw. A normal human should not be able to push her out of a mind like that. Something was wrong here. She tried to reconnect to Robin, but he was shutting her out. Or maybe it was Slade blocking her... but that was not possible.

What was going on?

* * *

Robin could barely think. All he could feel was the pain spreading through his body as Slade hurled him down the steps. He hit the floor of the basement with a loud groan and shut his eyes, hoping it would be over.

 _Raven?_ He tried calling out with his mind, but it was futile. Was it just a fluke? Raven somehow managed to contact him but only for a certain amount of time? Or was he just going crazy and imagined Raven comforting him? He shook his head, tears coming to his eyes. Was he going to die?

* * *

"ROBIN!" Raven suddenly screamed. The titans turned to her as she whimpered, clutching her stomach as though it were in pain. "I can feel him," she gasped out.

"Raven?" Starfire whispered in confusion. The girl was shaking and sweating, and her eyes were unfocused as though she couldn't see what was right in front of her.

"He's not going to make it," she shook her head. "He's… he's not—"

Starfire clenched her fists. "No," she growled out. Spinning around, she grabbed the floor. Adrenaline ran through her body like never before, and the floor felt like nothing in seconds. Robin needed her help. Robin needed to survive.

With a battle cry, she ripped open the floor.

All of the titans stared at her in awe for a fraction of a second. The moment was ruined when Raven screamed and dashed towards the opening, clumsily flying below the ground as though every fiber in her body was ordering her to get to Robin now.

The rest of the titans followed instantly.

* * *

No. No, he couldn't die. Dammit, he survived this much, didn't he? He finally made up with Bruce, reestablished a friendship with Barbara and the rest of the former sidekicks, made a damn team, fell in love! He was finally on the right track in his life! He couldn't die now!

Shakily he stood up and went into a fighting position. Slade was slowly coming down the steps, laughing as he did so. When he finally reached the boy, he didn't hesitate in kicking him in his already bruised ribs. Robin cried out in pain, as he was sent backwards. When he landed on the ground, he curled into a fetal position. "Slade," he whimpered, "stop."

"No Robin," Slade whispered, grabbing him by the front of his torn shirt and lifting him up. "I won't stop. Not now, not ever. I am the thing that keeps you up at night. The evil that haunts ever dark corner of your mind. I will never rest and neither will you."

"Raven said you weren't real," Robin gasped out.

"Oh I'm very real." Slade taunted before throwing forward, forcing him to hit the beam. His back howled in agony as Slade continued to walk forward slowly. "Could you have gotten all those bruises from someone who wasn't there? You can't even touch me."

Robin tried to back up as Slade started approaching him only to frown. With every step the man took, his form changed slightly. Almost like the Joker… yet when he took another step forward, he was Slade again. Both of them were there, the Joker and Slade. Each taking a single step towards him and changing forms constantly between the two.

Something clicked in his mind, and it was like a dark cloud dispersed in Robin's head. He could think clearly. Slade was right. Robin was covered in bruises and cuts from the fight. While he would normally be injured after a fight with Slade, it was never this severe… there was never such a difference in battle scars. He always managed to land a couple hits on Slade regardless of how much better a fighter the man was. Something wasn't right. "All of these bruises," he whispered to himself. "But you don't have a scratch!"

None of his friends could see Slade. None of them could find the generators. Slade only appeared in the dark… the dark corners of his mind…

"Only in the dark," he realized, shakily standing up. "You're only in the dark. Raven was right!"

Slade ceased all movement for a moment before growling out, "I'm real enough to kill you!"

As he broke out into a run, Robin immediately grabbed the light switch next to him. Light blared into the room, and Slade all but disappeared. Robin smirked, "Try again next time."

"ROBIN!"

Robin slumped his head on his shoulder as he stared at the blurry girl coming towards him. Raven… Raven was here. As he collapsed onto the ground, Raven grabbed him, holding him in her arms. "It's okay Raven," he mumbled, dazed. "It's okay."

That was the last thing he remembered before darkness swallowed him whole.

* * *

Raven refused to leave his side, her pale hand gripping his as Cyborg ran more diagnostics. As he scanned Robin's brain, he gasped and turned to the team, looking shocked. "It wasn't him," he stated. "This wasn't him!"

"What do you mean?" Beast boy frowned.

"He was drugged!"

That was all Cyborg could get out before he ran out of the room, leaving the titans alone with the unconscious Robin. Starfire had bandaged his bruised ribs, and Beast boy helped stop the bleeding on some of the cuts. Overall, Robin's body was a mess, and they would definitely have to force him to stay in bed for the next couple of days. That would be incredibly difficult.

Starfire stared sadly at the boy. "What kind of drug could have done this?"

"It must have been a chemical reagent that has the ability to invade a person's central nervous system, causing them to hallucinate to the point where they begin harming themselves," Beast boy answered.

Raven and Starfire stared at him in surprise.

He blushed. "My parents were scientists."

Starfire's eyes became sympathetic. "Were?"

He nodded, his eyes drifting to the floor as he clenched his fists.

 _"My parents died today," Beast boy confessed._

 _Robin's eyes widened although he wasn't completely shocked. Earlier that day, Beast boy had the same expression he had when his own parents died. Part of him hoped it wouldn't be as severe, but he highly doubted it. This was the proof. Robin could relate to him, tell him of his own tragic past, but he knew he couldn't. If he gave too much away, he gave away not only his secrets but Bruce's as well._

 _"I'm sorry," was the only thing he could say, but he hoped that Beast boy would understand through his tone and expression that he understood._

Raven shut her eyes tightly at the memory. All of Robin's memories were her own now, and it was an extreme invasion of privacy. She could only hope that Robin would wake up unaware of the situation, and she could pretend she never learned anything she wasn't supposed to.

Cyborg suddenly burst into the room and grabbed Robin's arm, pushing a needle into it. "This will help," was the only thing he said.

It took a while, but Robin eventually began to stir. All of the titans held in their breaths as Robin slowly sat up, rubbing his aching head.

"Robin," Raven whispered in relief. He slowly turned to her and offered her a small smile.

"Hey guys," he croaked out. "What did I miss?"

* * *

They ran a few more diagnostics on him: a concussion test (he had one), seeing if he had any broken bones (a bruised wrist), and if he had any sort of memory loss (he didn't). Once they finished, Cyborg explained how he had been drugged using almost identical words Beast boy used earlier.

"The dust," Robin whispered. "That's how."

"Whoever sent that mask knew one of us would closely look at it," Cyborg agreed. "It made you hear, see, and feel Slade."

"And the harder you fought, the more harm it did to you," Starfire said sympathetically.

"And anyone else who tried to intervene," Raven attempted to joke, rubbing her sore jaw from when she was literally punched out of her mind.

As she said that, Robin whirled around to look at her, and there was something in his expression that startled Raven. Okay, he definitely remembered how she invaded his mind. He probably just didn't know the side effects that came with it.

"Scan says you're all clear now though," Cyborg stated, clueless as to the moment that just passed between his two teammates.

"Yeah?" Robin stated. "There's only one way to find out though."

"Robin," Raven instantly protested, but Robin already stood up. He limped toward the wall, and none of the titans attempted to stop him. He turned around to face the team. Hesitating for just a moment, he sighed as he turned off the light and glanced around. He could only see the outlines of his teams' bodies. Slade was nowhere to be seen or heard.

He sighed, turning back on the lights. "I've been fighting Slade for so long that it's hard to believe he's gone. Sometimes I feel like he's still there… that I'm the only one looking for him. That I'm the only one who can stop him."

"Robin, you are never alone." Starfire stated.

"And if Slade does ever return, we'll be ready for him," Cyborg stepped forward, offering him a comforting smile.

Robin nodded, "Thank you."

"You should probably get some rest," Cyborg changed the subject, critically eyeing the injured boy who shouldn't even be standing. "I think you should also stay in the medical ward for tonight just in case."

"Yeah," Robin sighed, making his way toward the bed and sitting on it.

"Will you be alright?" Beast boy asked.

"I'll be fine."

"We shall let you rest then," Starfire smiled. Robin nodded, and slowly the rest of the titans made their way towards the door when suddenly…

"Raven? Can you stay for a minute?"

Everyone's eyes were on Raven, who locked eyes with Robin. Judging by his expression, that was not a request. Raven gulped and nodded, turning to her teammates in attempts to offer a reassuring smile.

They nodded and slowly filed out of the room, with Starfire being the only one to look back before shutting the door.

Raven didn't bother taking a step towards Robin, and it was silent for a few moments. She felt she was almost being suffocated by how tense it was when a movement caught her eyes. She immediately looked at Robin and her eyes widened as he lifted his hand toward the edge of his mask and started to slowly pull it off.

"Robin don't—" she began.

"It doesn't matter, does it?" He said and his mask was off. Bright blue eyes were staring at her, and she was frozen with shock. "You know, don't you? Everything."

"I—" She couldn't even form words. Yes, she had seen his eyes in his memories, but she had never… this was a different experience. This was in person. This was her memories, not his!

"I wasn't sure what happened when I was fighting Slade," he continued. "I thought I might have imagined it, but when I woke up, I remembered. I saw my life flash before my eyes, but it wasn't just me who saw it. I passed it all to you, and you passed some to me."

What? Raven backed up slowly. She let her guard down, yes, but she didn't remember giving him memories. How much did he know?

Robin smiled softly. "I can feel your anxiety. Don't worry you didn't pass me much. I remember some things like the monks, but not much. It's more of the recent things with the team."

"Robin," she tried to say.

"Don't call me that." He stated. "My mask isn't on."

She shut her eyes tightly. "Dick," she whispered. "It's not—"

"I know you now. I thought I knew you before, but I know you a lot more now." He whispered. "I know that you immediately regretted ending our friendship. I know you're scared of something, I can feel it, but I can't tell what it is. Something is scaring you to death, and you're trying to distance yourself from me because you want to protect me."

"Stop," she clenched her fists.

He looked at her, his blue eyes to her purple, and stated with full confidence. "I love you."

She shut her eyes tightly, shaking her head. "I don't love you back. I'm sorry."

"You're lying." He immediately replied, looking like he expected the rejection. "I felt it. I know you love me too, but you're terrified. I don't know what's scaring you, but if you tell me, I can help."

"You can't." Raven crossed her arms, looking as though she were hugging herself. "No one can."

"I can try." Robin started to stand up, and Raven flinched at the pain that went through their legs. When he noticed her flinch, he immediately sat down. "I know you love me. You can't hide from that, Raven."

She looked at him, newfound determination in her eyes.

"I can try."

With that, she ran out of the room, leaving the injured Robin to sit there and stare after her. Like Raven, there was a new determination within him, and he knew now that he could definitely not give up on her.

Whatever it was that she was afraid of, he would find out, and together they would beat it.

He knew they would.

* * *

Alice: Thanks for reading!

Emily: Next chapter will feature a very jealous Robin.

Alice: And I'm pretty sure you guys can all guess why!

Emily: Let me know what you guys thought!

Alice: The next update will be on or before the 28th!


	12. Spellbound Part 1

_Here's the new chapter! Sorry it took so long to update. The stupid snowstorm knocked out my power, so that delayed the updating process. But now it's back on, so the writing may continue! Something that always bothered me about the show is that it really downplayed the spiritual connection formed between Robin and Raven during Haunted. At first, it seems like it wasn't a big deal until season 4 when Robin suddenly blurts out, "You've been inside my mind" which implies that it was a big deal. This story is really going to tap into that bond, and it will be extremely prevalent during the rest of the series. Just a warning, though, I'm totally making up the "bond rules" as I like to call it because the series gave no indication on what the bond was or the extent of it. Anyways, here's the new chapter! It features some very jealous Robin!_

* * *

 **Spellbound**

 _Part 1_

For the first few days, it was absolute torture. Raven shared every single emotion with Robin, and it was terrifying. Everything she felt, Robin would feel in return. Likewise, she could feel all of Robin's emotions as well, which was not convenient in the slightest. She knew he was suffering from PTSD, but she never quite knew the extent of it until now. Before the bond forged, she thought the PTSD would surface whenever Robin felt an extreme layer of stress and that was it. She was wrong. It was constant for him.

She remembered one time in particular when the group was just eating dinner. All of a sudden, she felt her chest constrict in panic, and she couldn't breath. Somehow she was able to distinguish that these were not her emotions but Robin's. Still, knowing they were not her own did not stop the intensity of them. She could still recall how the team started badgering her with questions, asking if she was okay. Throughout the entire thing, Robin's expression was blank.

Eventually, he (they?) calmed down, and the panic attack was over. Still, moments like that happened throughout the next few days, and she could barely handle it. How had Robin managed to conceal such strong emotions? How had she never noticed? Well, she was noticing now.

Just like he was.

He constantly watched her, fully aware that she could feel his emotions. Whenever he looked at her, she could feel how hurt he was by her rejection and how determined he was to discover what she was hiding. It was terrifying, and she knew he could feel that. He could feel how worried she was about him or how stressed she was due to this bond.

A bond that she had not been prepared for in the slightest.

The monks often spoke of a bond being forged between two people, but they never went into detail about it. That meant she had to do the research on it. She dug up every book she ever owned, and she searched all of them for any details of spiritual bonds. She found one rather large book, and she began to read it.

As it turns out, bonds tend to be formed by people who want to share everything with each other. It starts out with one person entering the mind of the other, and the other person had to completely open their mind to allow the other person to explore. This would form an attachment between the two, and together they would have to expand the nature of their bond by exploring it.

Unfortunately for Raven, the bond was not on purpose, but it was permanent.

She sighed, rubbing her temple in frustration.

So far, she was not nearly finished even an eighth of that damn book. The only useful thing it taught her was the history behind these spiritual bonds and how to block the bond. That was an interesting experiment.

As it turns out, she can choose to close off her end of the bond whenever she pleased. That meant that Robin could not longer feel her emotions. Unfortunately, she could still feel his. He felt extremely betrayed by her blocking the bond, but it was what she had to do to protect her secrets. His feelings of betrayal still made her feel guilty though, and it just added to the stress.

"I need a distraction," she mumbled to herself. Closing the book, she glanced around the room for something, anything else to read. Her eyes fell on one of her rare fictional books, and she pressed her lips together. Why not indulge in some fiction for now? It would be a great distraction from the bond, which was giving her nothing but stress at the moment.

Nodding her head, she sat up and grabbed the book, opening to the first page. As she began to read, she slowly became more and more interested in the main character and his story. Slowly she forgot all of her fears and anxieties due to this new bond with Robin. For once, she was at peace, and she had the novel to thank for that.

* * *

"What's been going on with you, man?" Cyborg randomly blurted out.

Robin panted, turning around and raising an eyebrow at Cyborg. He had been in the middle of training when he suddenly heard Cyborg's voice. "What do you mean?" He wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was not in his uniform, which was rare for him especially when he trained. Instead he wore gym shorts, a t-shirt, and his mask.

"I mean you've been really quiet lately," Cyborg crossed his arms. "You don't go from having a freak out to just being okay. The visions with Slade must have triggered something! So talk to me. What's going on?"

Robin sighed. "Nothing," he mumbled. "I'm just…"

 _Experiencing a weird mental connection with Raven that exposes me to all of her emotions until recently when she decided to cut me off somehow?_

No, he couldn't tell Cyborg about that. "I'm just trying to distract myself I guess," he answered, patting the punching bag as proof. "You know me. I'm not the biggest talker about my feelings."

"Something you got from Batman?" Cyborg snorted.

Robin shook his head. If anything, Batman always encouraged him to tell his mentor what he was thinking and feeling. "Look," he sighed, "I'm just going through a rough patch. Again. I'll get through it like I always do."

"Until there's another rough patch," Cyborg narrowed his eyes.

"There won't be another one," Robin insisted. "The last one was chemically induced and technically not my fault."

"I'm just saying, man, you're not emotionally stable."

"Thanks," Robin rolled his eyes, his sarcasm evident.

"I just…" Cyborg was trying to figure out what to say. "I just want you to talk to someone. I don't care if it's not me. Maybe try calling Batman? Did you even tell him about what happened to you?"

Robin bit the inside of his cheek. That was answer enough to Cyborg, who lowered his head in disappointment. "I'm working on the whole talking to someone thing," Robin replied. "Alright?"

"Oh yeah?" Cyborg snorted. "And who is that?"

"Can't tell you," Robin shrugged. "Part of the whole secret identity thing."

Cyborg laughed bitterly. "Of course it is," he mumbled.

"But hey if you're in the mood for talking about feelings maybe we should talk about Jinx," Robin deadpanned.

Cyborg flushed and shook his head. "I'll see you later," he waved, walking away from the team leader. Robin sighed and turned back to the punching bag. As he started to kick it, his mind flashed to all of the times Cyborg insisted on him talking about his problems yet was never willing to discuss his own. Perhaps they were more alike than he thought…

Clenching his fists, he continued to attack the bag. He couldn't focus on Cyborg right now. It was Raven he needed to think about. She knew everything: his parents, Batman, Barbara, and even the Joker. All of his deepest secrets that he worked so hard to protect were out in the open for her to see, yet he didn't mind. She still loved him regardless of his past (a fact that astounded him). Now the only difficult part was having her admit that she loved him. He knew she accepted it a long time ago. There was just something in the way, and he had to figure it out.

But first she needed to stop blocking him! He had no idea how she did it, but she somehow discovered a way to conceal her emotions from him. After days of feeling nothing but her, he felt a sudden emptiness without it. Whenever he would have a mild panic attack, he would automatically feel her comfort and sympathy that would help calm him down. Whenever he was happy, he could feel how she was mildly pleased at that. Her presence was always with him, and it felt wrong that he was suddenly without it.

The alarm suddenly went off, and he paused.

Maybe he should think about this later…

* * *

When the alarm went off, Raven nearly cursed in frustration. The book was amazing, and she was just about to find out what happened with the dragon! Still, she had a duty to protect the citizens of Jump City, so she flew to the crime scene with the rest of the team.

Cardiac, a giant mechanical heart, was terrorizing little kids. The team automatically started fighting, but there was something different about this battle. Robin's emotions continued to mix with her own, and she could feel his determination to take this villain down, his frustration when their efforts were not working, and his concern for the children. Coupled with her own emotions on the battle, it was extremely distracting and giving her a headache.

When Cardiac knocked Cyborg off of Beast boy, who was a T-Rex, she growled. "That's it!" She clenched her fists in frustration. Closing her eyes, she started using her powers to tear apart Cardiac. It took some effort, but she finally ripped all of the mechanical tubes off of his main body. His parts scattered around the playground, and the battle was over.

She lowered herself to the ground, and she flinched when she felt overwhelming pride and love fill her chest making her automatically glare at Robin, who just cheekily grinned back. Rolling her eyes, she stomped to the car, put on her seatbelt, and waited for the rest of the team.

Beast boy immediately sat next to her. "That was awesome!" He grinned.

"Can we go now?"

* * *

Raven immediately dashed to her room, not bothering to listen to her teammates' protests. She slammed the door shut and grabbed the book. The sorcerer of the novel was close to defeating the dragon, and her breath hitched as she continued to read.

Only to be interrupted by a knock.

Rolling her eyes, she opened the door and immediately regretted it. Robin was standing there with his arms crossed and his eyebrow raised. "Hey," he stated.

"Robin—" she said warningly.

"Not my name."

"Dick," she narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"To confess my undying love for you so we can ride away in the sunset together forever," he answered sarcastically. "You know why I'm here."

"I don't want to talk."

"Well I wouldn't know considering I can't feel you anymore," he narrowed his eyes.

Raven sighed, "The effects have worn off. Whatever bond we forged, it's gone."

He snorted, "I can tell you're lying. I can still feel the bond, you know. I can feel you actively trying to block me. It's still there."

"It doesn't need to be."

"Yes it does," Robin insisted. "I've accepted it. Why haven't you?"

"Leave it," Raven hissed, and promptly backed up, allowing the door to slam on him. She was about to smile only to cringe at the immediate sorrow that filled her chest. A sorrow that was definitely not hers.

 _Dammit Robin._

Sighing, she went back to her bed and opened up her book once again. She opened the book and focused on what the sorcerer was doing, how he would kill that dragon.

Only to hear another knock on the door.

Groaning, she threw the book on the side of the bed and clenched her fists. It definitely wasn't Robin behind that door. His emotions were still too hurt by her actions, and he didn't feel an ounce of determination, which he usually had when he wanted to talk to her. That meant it was someone else.

Sighing, she opened the door to see Starfire standing there with a bright grin.

"Raven!" Starfire beamed. "I noticed you have been rather sad lately, and I wanted to help! Is it about Robin? If so, you can always talk to me!"

Raven sighed, "No, Star, I'm just tired," she lied.

She tilted her head to the side. "Are you sure you do not want to discuss you and Robin?"

"There is no me and Robin," she emphasized. "Star, it was a stupid crush. I'm over it like you are."

Starfire's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"Goodbye."

She slammed the door in her face just like she did with Robin.

Raven immediately went back to her bed and picked up the novel once again. Losing herself in it's contents, she smiled peacefully. Now she could finally discover how on earth that amazing sorcerer killed that terrifying dragon—

Someone else knocked on the door.

Groaning, she walked towards the door and opened it. Unsurprisingly, it was Cyborg and Beast boy.

"Dude!" Beast boy exclaimed. "We just heard about how you're supposedly over Robin!"

"What's that about?" Cyborg practically shouted.

Raven scowled. Couldn't Starfire keep a secret? Well, she didn't inform the girl that it was a secret, but still! She shouldn't randomly blurt everything to her teammates. "Guys," she hissed. "It was a stupid crush."

"You were in love with the guy!"

"The guy who would never love me back, so I got over it. Like Starfire did," Raven reaffirmed, lying about how Robin would never love her back. It was true that Robin loved her, but he also was deeply in love with Barbara as well. He managed to get over his feelings for her, so he could extend the same curtsey to Raven.

"You're not fooling anyone," Beast boy huffed. "You are so in love with him and you want to get married to him and—"

She slammed the door in his face.

"Come on Raven!" Beast boy shouted through the door. "What's going on?"

Raven sighed, leaning against the door with her eyes shut. This was too much. Eyeing the book on the bed, she slowly moved towards it. That book had been a great distraction over the past few days, and she desperately needed to lose herself in the story once again. Picking it up, she was about to open it when the most peculiar thing happened.

"Hello."

She gasped, promptly dropping the book and backing up.

"Ow…"

The book was talking. The book was talking. What on earth was going on? Why was the book talking? Books couldn't talk. "Did you just…?" She said slowly.

"Speak? Yes. And then you proceeded to drop me on my spine."

"Oh," she could barely form words. "Sorry."

"It's quite alright."

The book was still talking. How was that possible?

"Um…" Raven's hands were shaking. "Books don't usually talk."

That probably didn't sound too intelligent.

"I know, but I am no book. I am a man," the book continued to speak. "Malchior of Nol at your service!"

"Malchior?" Raven whispered. "The man who faced Rorek the dragon?"

"The man who defeated Rorek the dragon," the book, or Malchior, corrected. "But that dragon placed one last curse on me. I have to remain in the form of a book until someone can free me from this spell. Raven, I believe you can."

Raven numbly nodded and raised her hand only to gasp when pain shot up her arm. "I'm sorry," she immediately apologized. "The spell is too strong."

"I feared so," Malchior confessed. "Perhaps we can just talk then?"

Raven slowly nodded her head, "Alright."

"Tell me about you."

Tired, rundown, and stressed, Raven started confessing almost everything. She talked about her fears of causing devastation, her emotional connection with her powers, mourning the loss of her friend Terra, and the stress that came with the newly formed bond with Robin. The only things she left out were her destiny and her love for the boy she bonded with.

Malchior listened, offered advice, and even made her laugh at times. He was a perfect gentleman, and Raven already felt safe with him after only one afternoon of talking. When she started to yawn, Malichor reassured her that they could continue speaking tomorrow. He encouraged her to get some much-needed sleep, and she nodded in agreement.

Lying on her bed, she slowly began to sleep.

* * *

 _Raven opened her eyes to find herself outside. It was a warm day, and the grass felt nice under her feet. She took a deep breath and frowned at the strange smells that surrounded her. She looked deeper at her surroundings and noticed multiple tents set up as well as people walking around. She was about to explore the location, but the sound of giggling distracted her. Frowning, she turned to the side to see a little blue-eyed boy laughing with two adults. They were doing multiple acrobatic moves. The man picked up the tiny boy and threw him over his shoulder, joking about dropping him. The boy countered he would land on his feet, and the woman was jokingly criticizing John for being too rough._

 _They looked like they were having fun._

" _I remember this."_

 _Raven gasped and whirled around to see Dick standing there. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a loose fitting t-shirt. His blue eyes were focused on the scene before them. "You do?" She questioned. This must be a dream, she reasoned._

" _It was a few weeks before we went to Gotham," Dick never took his eyes away from his parents._

 _Raven nodded, glancing at the Grayson family. "I've never seen a child so close with their parents before," she observed._

" _They were my best friends," he confessed. "There wasn't really anyone else my age in the circus, so I spent all of my time with my parents and the other adults in the circus. I always liked how they never talked down to me."_

 _Raven's eyes softened. "I'm sorry you lost all of this."_

" _Me too," Dick whispered before a small smirk appeared on his lips. "You know, this is definitely one of the happier dreams I've had this week."_

 _Raven frowned. "You're dreaming?"_

" _Yeah? Since you're a part of my dream, I'm guessing you already knew that," he joked._

" _This is my dream," Raven countered, feeling her chest start to constrict. No, this could not be happening._

 _Dick's eyebrows furrowed, and he glanced down at his chest. "You're panicking," he whispered and his eyes went wide with realization. "You're real. You're in my dream!"_

" _I didn't know we could do that," Raven replied weakly._

 _Dick numbly nodded. "I didn't either…" he mumbled. "Raven, we really have to look more into this. What else can we do with this bond? What if these new abilities start to show up at inconvenient times? We—"_

" _We don't have to do anything!" She exclaimed. "Dick, just let it go!"_

 _He frowned but nodded slowly. "Okay," he whispered. "I will for now."_

" _Thank you."_

 _He nodded, and his eyes drifted back to his family. "I miss them."_

 _Raven bit her bottom lip. "I know," she murmured._

 _Dick turned to her, "Do you?"_

 _She hugged her chest. "I didn't know them," she answered honestly._

" _But you miss them," he stated. "I can feel you again, Rae. I guess you can't actively block what you're feeling while you're asleep."_

 _That would be a problem. Instead of focusing on that, she paid attention to the first part of his statement. "They weren't my parents. I don't have the right to miss them."_

" _You have every right," Dick comforted her._

" _Thank you," she whispered. He smiled before sitting cross-legged on the grass. Raven hesitated for a moment before she joined him, and together they watched the family of three play together in the sunlight. For the first time, Raven felt truly at peace. Even more so than when she was speaking to Malchior. Then again, that made sense. After all, she was in love with Robin._

 _She heard a soft chuckle from beside her and she frowned. Glancing at Dick, he turned and beamed at her._

" _I love you too, Rae."_

 _She couldn't help the blush that tinted her cheeks nor her heart beginning to race in her chest. She knew she couldn't run from this, run from him, for much longer._

 _But that didn't mean she wasn't going to try._

* * *

 _Thank you for reading the chapter! The bond will become more complex as the story continues. It will also be very prominent throughout the rest of the series. I hope you all liked the chapter! Let me know what you think!_


	13. Spellbound Part 2

_New chapter! This features a very confused team and a very "in-denial" Raven. So what else is new? (That was my attempt at being funny). Anyways, let's start the new chapter! Also, if there are any Young Justice fans, please watch it on Netflix! If enough people watch it, it might get renewed for a season 3~ Anyways, onto the chapter!_

* * *

 **Spellbound**

 _Part 2_

There was something wrong with Raven. Two weeks have passed since she declared she no longer had feelings for Robin, and… that had been it. She shut herself in her room and refused to speak to anyone. All of the Teen Titans have attempted to speak to her, but she turned them away each time. With Robin, she didn't even bother to answer the door. It was frustrating, and it was worrying to all of them.

Which is why Beast boy decided to do a not-so-good thing. He transformed into the form of a fly and crawled under the door of Raven's room. Flying to the top of the room, he rested on one of the higher bookshelves, trying to rid himself of the guilt as well. He didn't particularly like spying but what if Raven was in trouble? Maybe if he had done this with Terra, he could have—

No, now was not the time to think about that.

He focused his gaze on Raven and patiently waited until she woke up. When she lifted herself out of bed and began stretching, an odd expression came over it. It was one of guilt and happiness, which was a weird mixture. Beast boy determined she must have had a strange dream.

She pulled out a book from under the covers, and Beast boy frowned in confusion. Did she fall asleep reading? That must have explained why she had a book in her bed. "Good morning," she spoke to the book, making Beast boy blink.

Oh no… Raven lost her mind.

"Good morning. I trust you slept well?" The book… spoke back? What? If Beast boy had a proper jaw, his mouth would have dropped. What on earth was going on? And why was Raven wearing white?

"I did," she smiled. "Thank you. I didn't have any dreams last night. It was peaceful…"

The way she said the last part had an edge of guilt. As though she was doing something wrong by not having any dreams.

"I told you," the book replied as Raven climbed out of the bed. "I can block your dreams to ensure your communications with him have ceased. It will give you more privacy and separation from your… situation."

"It has," she smiled only to frown. "He's really upset about it."

Beast boy sighed. Raven was making absolutely no sense. He figured it must be a magic thing that he couldn't grasp.

"He should learn to mind his own business," the book replied. "Just because the situation is there does not mean he can take advantage of it."

"He hasn't been…" Raven was about to defend whomever the "he" was, but she stopped herself. "It's fine. The dreams have stopped, so there's basically nothing left."

"I'm glad," the book stated as Raven placed it on the podium. Suddenly she took a few steps back, and the book started to transform into the form of a man! Well, not really. He was still clearly made out of pages, but he looked, walked, and moved like a person. "Are you ready to continue our training?" he was a soft spoken, British man.

Raven nodded, "I am."

Okay… so this book thing was training Raven in magic?

"Don't worry," he placed a comforting hand (page?) on her shoulder. "I have full confidence that you will one day free me from the binds of this book."

Raven blushed, "Thank you," she mumbled. "I'm sorry I couldn't do it fully last week…"

"You have done more than enough for me, Raven," his hand moved from her shoulder to her cheek. To Beast boy's surprise, Raven leaned into the touch. "You have freed me from the binds of my book, allowed me to walk, and provided me with your company. I am forever grateful to you."

Raven flushed, "You've done a lot for me too, Malchior."

As the two began to start reading books and practicing magic, Beast boy slowly lifted his body off of the bookshelf and quickly exited the room. Malchior? Is that why Raven claimed she was no longer in love with Robin? This was all kinds of wrong! Beast boy needed to report this to the team! Fast!

* * *

"Raven? In love? With a book?" Starfire burst out laughing. "You have truly become a comedic genius, my friend!"

"I can't believe you spied on Raven!" Cyborg exclaimed. "She could have killed you!"

"She's not in love with him." Robin stated confidently. "And you shouldn't spy on her."

The Teen Titans were all sitting on the couch when Beast boy quickly ran towards them and blurted out the information. He didn't even realize Robin had been sitting there. Normally the "Robin and Raven should be together club" only consisted of him, Cyborg, Starfire, and sometimes Raven. They never spoke about Raven's love life in front of Robin… ever. Maybe this was a chance to see how Robin would react on the possibility that Raven was in love with someone else?

Then again, Beast boy thought to himself, Robin had been faced with that possibility before, and he had not reacted well to it. When he lied to Robin and said he and Raven were together, Robin did not look happy. At all. But Beast boy had assumed Robin was against teammates dating teammates, and Malchior was not a teammate. And, Beast boy thought to himself, he didn't approve at all of Raven and that Evan guy possibly dating, but he had assumed that Robin disliked the idea of any of them dating civilians. Malchior was certainly not a civilian.

Whatever happened to that Evan guy?

"Beast boy! Are you listening?"

Beast boy jumped and turned to Cyborg, who was still freaking out that Beast boy dared to spy on Raven. "Um… yes?" He smiled cheekily.

Robin rolled his eyes, "She's not in love with a book."

"She is!" Beast boy exclaimed. "He was getting all grabby with her, and she was totally letting it happen!"

Starfire's mouth dropped open, and Cyborg flushed. Robin looked as though he was about to have a heart attack. "You're telling me," Robin stated slowly, rage seeping into his voice. Beast boy's heart began to race with excitement. Was he jealous? Was this the proof they needed to tell if he loved Raven back? "That you spied on Raven while she was being intimate with someone? Beast boy, that's disgusting! That's… that's perverted!"

Beast boy blinked. "Wait what?" He rethought his previous statement and flushed. "No! No! I meant like he was touching her cheek and shoulder and stuff! Not… no! Ew!"

"Oh!" Robin sighed with relief. "Good!"

"Not good!" Beast boy exclaimed. "She's in love with this guy!"

Robin snorted, "Sure."

"She is!"

"I doubt it."

"How would you know?" Beast boy crossed his arms.

"Because I know her," Robin shrugged, trying to appear more confident than he was. For the past few nights, Raven and him had not shared any dreams. Chances are, she discovered a way to block them dreaming together just like she learned to block her side of the bond. It hurt, but Robin was still determined to discover why she was so afraid of loving him.

Starfire tilted her head to the side curiously, "If she was in love with another man," she stated cautiously, "what would you do?"

Robin raised an eyebrow, "Why does that matter?"

Beast boy, Cyborg, and Starfire all glanced at each other. Each of their expressions conveyed the same frustration and curiosity. While they were all certain of Raven's love for Robin, his love for Raven was a little grayer. Sure, he showed signs of favoring her and seeking her company when he was upset, but he never expressed any signs of being in love with her.

"It's just… that Evan guy!" Beast boy exclaimed. "You were super upset about him, and now she's dating a new guy! Are you upset about that too?!"

"Oh, what ever happened to him?" Starfire asked curiously.

"He ended up transferring to a different college because he was unhappy with his costal, party school," Robin answered easily. "They still email each other."

Beast boy frowned. "How do you know that?"

"Didn't Raven tell you?" He asked innocently, knowing fully well that she didn't. To be fair, she didn't even tell him. It was just one of the few memories Robin was allowed access to when they created the bond.

"No," all three titans answered at the same time. In that moment, the doors opened, and the titans all turned to see Raven flying in wearing a white robe. Robin raised an eyebrow and stared at her, trying to detect any hint of emotion she might have. He was completely sure she wasn't in love with whomever she was talking to, but it still concerned him that she was spending so much time with Malchior while shutting him out.

"Hey Raven," Robin said slowly. "It's been a while."

"Yeah cause she hasn't left her room," Beast boy grumbled resulting in Cyborg whacking him on the head.

"I like your new look!" Cyborg faked a bright smile to compensate for Beast boy's rude remark.

"Thanks," Raven replied almost cheerfully. Robin frowned. Yes, she did look nice in the white robe, but there was still something off about her besides her more cheerful personality. While he wouldn't have been able to notice before the bond, it was more than obvious to him now that something felt _wrong_ with her aura. It was almost as though she fundamentally changed something about herself…

But putting on a white robe wouldn't have done that, could it?

"So when do we get to meet this friend of yours?" He asked carefully.

Raven didn't even bother asking how he knew. "Soon," she smiled.

"That's great!" Starfire beamed, flying up to Raven and grasping her shoulders. "Beast boy has told us all about this Malchior who has been trapped inside of a book and how you have been trying to free him!"

"Now how would Beast boy notice something like that?" Raven smirked, almost playfully.

Beast boy sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I might have been a fly on the wall in your room?"

As if to prove his point, he morphed into a tiny fly.

Raven's smirk widened. "Funny," she stated. "You look more like a rat to me."

Suddenly Beast boy dropped to the ground in the form of a rat, and Robin froze. On the surface, he heard Beast boy's absolute shock at being morphed by her, but Robin could barely listen. Instead he felt a wrongness creep into his soul like no other. It was a deep abyss filled with nothing, and it was slowly consuming him, making him go cold.

It wasn't Raven's emotions that he was feeling. It was her soul. A darker force was slowly consuming her…

It was dark magic.

He briefly remembered the monks teaching her about dark magic and how it was forbidden. It tainted the soul of anyone who dared practice it for long periods of time. If Malchior was teaching Raven dark magic…

"Raven," Robin stated stiffly, and Raven turned to him. The smile that had been on her face the entire day was wiped off, and she frowned at him. Judging by how calm she appeared, Robin highly doubted she knew what kind of magic she was being taught. Still, how could she not feel it? Was she so concentrated in finding a way to avoid him that she couldn't feel the wrongness of the magic she was using?

"What?" Raven raised an eyebrow, clearly expecting criticism.

"You—" He began, but he was interrupted by the alarm. He cursed and ran over to see what was wrong. He whirled around to the Titans and stated, "Trouble. We have to go. Now!"

Still, he gave Raven a pointed look as though to say 'we will be talking about this later.' Naturally, she rolled her eyes at him.

Well, at least she responded.

* * *

It was Cardiac again. Only this time he swallowed an entire child in his main chamber, and he was clearly keeping her hostage. Robin growled, and the titans tensed. Missions with smaller children were always much harder to deal with. "Titans," he ordered. "Stay hand to hand. We don't want to hurt the girl!"

The titans nodded in response, and they immediately went after the giant heart. It was much more difficult due to the new limits they had. When Beast boy, in his hippo form, was thrown onto the street, Raven clenched her fists in frustration. Flying above Cardiac, she snarled, "This time when I break you stay broken!"

Robin, who was slowly standing up after being thrown onto the ground as well, gasped as the same feeling from before overcame him. Only this time it was much worse. His head shot up, and he stared at Raven as dark magic poured out of her mouth, eyes, and hands. It was consuming Cardiac and the little girl.

"Oh no," he whispered.

"Raven!" Beast boy cried out. "Stop!"

"I… can't!" Raven managed to scream out as more magic poured out of her. Robin growled and quickly dashed towards Raven just as Beast boy morphed into a ram. Beast boy dashed towards Cardiac, hitting him over and over again in attempts to free the endangered child.

Robin grabbed Raven by the hand and pulled her down to his level. The moment their skin touched, Raven's block on him was severed. Memories rushed into Robin's head just like they had the first time they formed the bond. This time it was only of what happened after the bond formed.

Raven was terrified of something, and she needed to distract herself… keep away from Robin. The book started talking, and he was teaching her things… new things. He made her feel safe. She adored him… not in the same way she loved Robin, but her feelings for him were genuine. He was teaching her magic, and she told him about the bond she shared with her teammate. He offered education on the bond and a means to block the dreams. He taught her magic of the darkest kind, but she was too happy to notice.

He squeezed his eyes shut. He needed to figure out a way to stop this dark magic! He briefly remembered the monks discussing opposites, how dark magic can only be stopped by the essence of pure magic. If Raven's powers were tied to her emotions, she needed to feel happy and in control. How was he supposed to do that? How could he make her happy? That's when the idea hit him.

Memories… they can share memories! That meant Robin could send her a specific memory...

While he never tried to send her any memories (or one particular memory), he knew he at least had to try. Using all of his energy, he thought of a moment between the two of them: the dance. He squeezed his eyes tighter, remembering how it felt when all of his memories exited his own mind and entered Raven's. It was when the bond first formed. He just needed to apply those feelings to this one specific memory. He took a deep breath, and he conjured a clear image of the dance in his head before literally attempting to shove it towards Raven. He felt the memory exit his own mind and enter hers. She gasped, her eyes widening as the feeling of Robin's arms around her as they danced engulfed her. How happy she felt when she was nominated for prom queen with Robin as her kind. How she thought that night would never end regardless of the realization that she could never be with him. Still, that night she felt as though she could have been.

The comforting memory almost empowered her, and she let out a scream as all of the magic that was being poured out of her body changed directions. Instead it travelled inward, and she gritted her teeth in pain. Robin shut his eyes tightly, and he tried sending emotions of comfort and encouragement to her. Finally it stopped, and Raven let out a gasp of breath.

Beast boy had finally managed to break Cardiac's walls, and he grabbed the child, pulling her out just in time before Cardiac was fully pulled apart.

It was silent for a moment as the team panted.

Raven slowly looked up, meeting Robin's gaze. His lips were parted in shock, and she could feel that he was terrified. Not of her but of what Malchior had been teaching her… of the force that nearly ripped her apart. He was scared for her. "Raven," he whispered, "what did you do?"

He was talking about the dark magic. Raven immediately felt what it was the moment she uttered the new, foreign words to stop Cardiac. She shut her eyes tightly and disappeared into the night, ignoring the shouts of protests from her teammates and the overwhelming emotions from Robin.

She needed to talk to Malchior.

* * *

Raven burst into her room, squeezing her palms shut. Malchior was already in his mostly human form, and she marched up to him. "Dark magic," she spat out. "You've been teaching me dark magic!"

"I have been," he admitted calmly. "I did not expect you to have such a hateful attitude towards it."

Disbelief overtook Raven. "Why wouldn't I? It's dark! I know what it does to people!"

"Weak people," Malchior corrected. "I doubt the monks taught you the true nature of dark magic. It is a powerful source, but for some, it is too much power for them to handle. It overtakes them, and it destroys them. For strong individuals, like you and me, it has no effect. We can use it at whim!"

"Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.

"I thought you knew," he answered. "I thought you would know the feel of the dark arts and that you accepted it."

"I—" Raven began but stumbled. It was true that she should have felt it, but she had been so convinced that she needed a distraction she ignored any faults that distraction exhibited. He could have been teaching her anything, and she would have followed him because at least she was staying away from Robin. Shame filled her body, and she crossed her arms over her chest. How could she have been so stupid?

"We only have to do a little more for the spell to free me," Malchior pushed. "Shall we?"

"I don't know," she squeezed her eyes shut. "I've been taught all my life that dark magic was forbidden."

"Come now, Raven," Malchior softly grasped her arms, "I understand you. I'm the only one who does. Do you truly want to be alone for the rest of your life?"

Raven shook her head, "No," she let out a tiny whisper, but she knew that she would be. Her father would come, and he would destroy everything. She would be left alone, burdened with the guilt of bringing the end to the world and to her friends… and to Robin. Avoiding them, avoiding him, was her way of easing the pain. "Alright," she whispered.

"Let's get started."

* * *

The block had been shattered. Even as Raven disappeared into the night, she had been so distraught that she forgot to block him once again. That meant all of her emotions were flooding into his system. Judging by how distressed she was, she didn't even notice his own worried emotions pouring into her. Still, Robin could feel her vulnerability, and he knew what kind of person Malchior was by the memories Raven accidentally shared.

Which meant he had to get back to the tower now.

"I don't get why we are rushing!" Cyborg complained as they sped through the streets. Robin was on his motorcycle as Cyborg drove the car. Starfire was flying with Beast boy at her side in the form of a bird.

"Just trust me!" Robin shouted back.

As they pulled up to the street against the ocean, they all stopped in shock. The sky had turned a foul green color, and the clouds were swirling Titans Tower. Lightning started to strike, and thunder boomed over them. "What the heck?" Beast boy breathed out.

"Is that Raven?" Starfire placed her hand on top of her mouth.

"No," Robin stated. "Not all of it."

Beast boy frowned. "Malchior?"

"Let's take him down."

* * *

Raven gasped as a man began to step through the portal, but there was something off. When she had began the spell, it felt almost right. She was freeing an enslaved man from a terrible spell. Now though… everything about this screamed wrong. Malchior finally stepped out of the portal, staring down at his hands with an excited look in his eyes. "Malchior?" she questioned uncertainly, slowly approaching him.

"In the flesh," he smirked only reach out and grab her hair. She yelped in pain as he held her up. "Thank you."

"What are you doing?" Raven demanded.

"Oh child," he smirked, "you have much to learn about the ways of the world. The dragon was not the villain in the story. I was."

Her eyes widened with shock, and Malchior suddenly released his grip on her hair. Instead he moved his hand to slap her, causing her to hit the ground with a grunt of pain.

"That dragon was protecting a village filled with riches," Malchior continued. "And I wanted to take it for myself. The dragon of course had a duty to protect the citizens from my magic, so I fought the dragon. Unfortunately, the mages of the village realized what I was doing, and they entrapped me in that book. So I changed the words, made it sound like I was a great hero, so one day someone would be foolish enough to free me. Thank you, Raven, for your kindness." He laughed.

"No," she whispered, holding her bruised cheek in shock. It couldn't be...

Slowly Malchior descended to the roof, laughing as he did so. Raven remained curled on the floor, eyes wide with shock.

Why? Why was her destiny to only create devastation in the world?

The door to her room slammed open. "Raven!" Beast boy shouted, but Raven could barely hear him. She vaguely felt arms around her, trying to shake her back into sense. "Raven what's going on?"

"I trusted him," she whispered. "I trusted him, and he used me."

"Rae?"

"Please," she shut her eyes tightly, "get out of my room."

"No!" Beast boy gripped her arms tightly. "The titans are fighting him! Robin's fighting him! You have to help. You're the only one who understands magic!"

"Get out!" Raven shouted, and Beast boy flinched.

"Fine," he slowly released her. "I'll go."

Raven listened as he dashed out of the room, probably trying to fight off the evil she released into the world. Shutting her eyes, she curled up, trembling as she did so. Never had she ever felt so pathetic… so used… so…

 _Enraged!_

Raven gasped, quickly sitting up. This whole time she had not noticed that she was not blocking Robin. That meant he knew how she was feeling, and he was furious. Blood boiling anger filled him, and Raven had never felt such rage before. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to calm him down, but he was hell-bent on beating Malchior for the pain he bestowed on her.

He was going to kill himself trying to stop Malchior.

And she was not going to let that happen.

* * *

Robin screamed as he attempted to hit Malchior, but it was futile. He was both stronger physically and magically. Still, that didn't prevent him from trying. Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast boy were all attempting to attack him as well, but their attacks were even less effective. Malchior appeared almost bored by fighting with them. That only further angered Robin as he tried to hit him.

"So you're the one," he commented casually as Robin sprinted towards him.

"Yeah," Robin spat out, "I am."

"She was very easy to manipulate."

Robin clenched his fists and dashed towards him, trying to land one hit on this guy. Malchior laughed and grabbed his wrist, throwing him back. Robin hit the ground with a loud thud, and he silently cursed himself.

"You are weak," Malchior stated, standing above him. "No wonder she preferred me to you."

"I didn't."

Both men gasped and turned around to see Raven standing there. Robin's eyes widened. In her white robe, she almost appeared angelic. Malchior narrowed his eyes and faced her. "Come now, love, you aren't really going to hurt me, are you?"

"You want to test me?" Raven spat, and she held up the book Malchior was previously enchanted in. "Next time you get free, you might want to take this with you."

"No," Malchior whispered, dashing towards Raven, but it was too late. She opened the book and began speaking. Robin couldn't understand what she was chanting, but it was having an effect on Malchior, who appeared as though he was being pulled into the novel. He was shouting curses at Raven before his entire body was hurled back into the novel that Raven promptly closed.

She flew to the ground and almost instantly collapsed onto her knees. Robin quickly rushed over and caught her before she hit the ground. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her close, and for the first time in a long time, she accepted his comfort. She wrapped her arms around him as well and leaned into him.

"I thought..." she whispered hopelessly.

"I know," he whispered back.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize."

As this was happening, the two appeared to have forgotten about the other titans, who were watching them.

"Um…" Beast boy blinked. "When did that happen?"

"I don't know," Cyborg sighed. "Robin doesn't tell me anything."

Starfire titled her head to the side, "So are they… together?"

Beast boy snorted. "Doubt it. They're probably just being all huggy now because they nearly died. Tomorrow they'll be fighting like cats and dogs… again!"

"I don't know," Cyborg observed. "It seems different this time."

"Ten bucks says they'll be fighting tomorrow."

Cyborg smirked, "You're on, little man. Now come on. Let's give them their privacy."

Beast boy nodded in agreement, and the two of them turned around to exit the roof. Neither noticed Starifre, whose eyes lingered on Robin and Raven for a few moments longer. Quietly turning around, Starfire trailed behind Cyborg and Beast boy, who were actively conversing as though a powerful, magical wizard hadn't just tried to take over the world.

"Rae," Robin whispered, eventually breaking the moment. Raven jumped a bit, and she slowly parted from him; however, they still gripped each other's arms.

"I'm tired," she mumbled. "I'm tired of avoiding you."

It was true. She was exhausted of trying to stay away from Robin. Of all of the fighting as a result from it. Of knowing he loved her back but being unable to be with him. She was so tired.

"Then don't."

"You don't understand," she shook her head.

"Because you won't tell me anything," Robin mumbled back.

"I can't."

"Alright. I accept that you can't be with me and that you won't tell me why," Robin conceded. "But just stop avoiding me. Let's figure out this bond. Together."

"Alright."

"Alright?"

"Yeah," she mumbled. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

It was a rough start, but at least now they were finally back. That made the stressful few weeks almost worth it. There would definitely be complexities ahead, but at least for now they knew they were in this together.

That was all that mattered.

* * *

 _I hope you guys liked it! The next chapter should be up before the end of the month. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you thought!_


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